17 American passengers aboard hantavirus-hit cruise ship will quarantine in Nebraska

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

May 8, 2026, 7:00 AM EDT / Updated May 8, 2026, 6:55 PM EDT


Seventeen American passengers aboard the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak will quarantine at a Nebraska facility that specializes in handling patients with highly communicable diseases, health officials said. The m/v Hondius is expected to arrive in Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, on Sunday at which point disembarkation and isolation plans will be implemented.

A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet the American passengers there, an agency official confirmed to NBC News. And the State Department is arranging a flight back to the U.S. for them, a department spokesperson said Friday. The 17 passengers will be received at the National Quarantine Unit, a secured facility on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus in Omaha, said Dr. Michael Wadman, the unit’s medical director.

There, they will be assessed and any necessary quarantine measures will be determined, he said. They will also be monitored daily. All of the people being transported to Nebraska are in good health and are asymptomatic, but should anyone be diagnosed with the virus, they would would be moved to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, said Dr. Angela Hewlett, the medical director of that unit.

The Biocontainment Unit treats patients with hazardous communicable diseases in sterile environments that maximize safety and containment. It features an isolation unit, HEPA filtration system and specialized sterilization “autoclaves” with double doors to decontaminate waste and linens. Hewlett emphasized that the current outbreak is not at Covid levels.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flight-attendant-tests-negative-hantavirus-new-case-suspected-remote-i-rcna344191