Americans exposed to hantavirus aboard cruise ship land in Nebraska

At least seven states are monitoring residents for possible hantavirus exposure tied to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, as officials track passengers across the country.

States reporting monitoring residents include Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, and New York.

In several cases, individuals were not onboard the ship but were potentially exposed during air travel with infected passengers.

Separately, a group of 17 Americans and one British dual national are currently in quarantine at federal and hospital facilities in Nebraska and Georgia, according to health officials.

Among those quarantining include 3 residents from New York; 3 residents from Utah and four residents from California.

Officials across states have said that most individuals under monitoring are asymptomatic and that the risk to the general public remains low.

Hantavirus is typically spread through contact with infected rodents, though the Andes strain linked to the outbreak can spread between people in rare cases involving close contact.

Four California residents are being monitored for potential hantavirus exposure linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, state health officials said Monday.

Dr. Erica Pan, California’s state public health officer, said all four individuals are currently asymptomatic and that there are no confirmed cases of Andes hantavirus in the state.

Three of the individuals were passengers aboard the cruise ship, while a fourth was exposed during a flight that included an infected passenger.

Two of the Californians are currently in Nebraska undergoing monitoring, while the other two have returned to California and are being monitored by local health departments with modified activities, including limiting interactions and practicing good hygiene.

“The risk to the general public in California remains extremely low,” Pan said during a press briefing.

Officials said one of the cruise passengers returned to California before the hantavirus outbreak was identified, while the others remained with the group now under federal monitoring.

Maryland health officials said Monday they are monitoring two residents for potential hantavirus exposure linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, though both individuals were not onboard the vessel.

The Maryland Department of Health said in a release that the possible exposure happened during international air travel that briefly included a passenger infected with hantavirus.

Officials said the monitoring is being done “out of an abundance of caution” and that the risk to the public remains very low.

According to the Maryland Department of Health, hantavirus is typically spread through contact with infected rodents, but the strain tied to the cruise ship -- the Andes virus -- is the only known type capable of person-to-person transmission.

The two Maryland residents are being monitored during the virus’s incubation period, which can range from four to 42 days. Officials said asymptomatic individuals are not considered infectious.

No hantavirus cases have been reported in Maryland since 2019, and Andes virus infections have never been identified in the state, officials said. Health authorities said they are coordinating with federal and international partners as the situation continues to evolve.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday said he is “praying” for Americans affected by the hantavirus outbreak tied to a cruise ship, while criticizing the Trump administration over cuts to public health agencies.

Speaking on the Senate floor Monday, Schumer noted that 17 Americans, including three New Yorkers, have arrived in Nebraska and are in quarantine after being evacuated from the ship.

"All of us here in the Senate are thinking of them and praying for their health. No one should have to go through such an ordeal,” Schumer said.

The New York Democrat also used the moment to blast the Trump administration for weakening federal health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.

"I've put out a plan that calls on the Trump administration to rehire those fired outbreak response experts, to restore funding to protect Americans from infectious diseases, and to rejoin the World Health Organization and other groups that track outbreaks and provide early warning," he said. "Rehire, restore, rejoin -- that's how we keep the American people healthy and safe."

"Diseases like hantavirus and COVID don't care what your politics are, they threaten everyone. Donald Trump needs to stop politicizing public health and start investing in it."

Three New York residents who were passengers aboard the hantavirus-affected cruise ship MV Hondius have arrived at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and are expected to undergo a 42-day monitoring period, according to state health officials.

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said one of the individuals is from New York City, while the other two are residents of Orange County and Westchester County.

State officials are working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health departments to determine how long the individuals will remain in Nebraska and whether or when they may return to New York.

“At this point, it is important to emphasize that there is no immediate risk to the public,” McDonald said. “We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as needed.”

Passengers board an ambulance plane bound for the Netherlands at Tenerife Sur-Reina Sofia Airport on the island of Tenerife, Spain’s Canary Islands, on May 11, 2026, as evacuation efforts continue following a hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius.

Video from the airport showed vans transporting passengers across the tarmac to waiting aircraft, with travelers being escorted onto evacuation flights as authorities worked to move those affected out of the region.

The final six passengers and several crew members have disembarked from the hantavirus-affected MV Hondius on the Spanish island of Tenerife Monday, marking the end of the evacuation effort following an outbreak aboard.

Spain’s health ministry said strong winds forced the ship to briefly dock at the port of Granadilla de Abona to allow the remaining passengers, who included four Australians, one British national living in Australia and a New Zealander, to safely leave the vessel and board a flight to the Netherlands.

Additional crew members and medical staff are also expected to travel to the Netherlands on separate flights, while the ship itself will continue there with a reduced crew to undergo disinfection.

“I could not imagine sailing through these circumstances with a better group of people, guests and crew alike,” Captain Jan Dobrogowski said, praising their patience during what he called an “extremely challenging” period.

As health officials track the hantavirus outbreak that began on the MV Hondius cruise ship, attention is turning to the Andes virus, a rare strain from South America that is causing concern.

The virus stemming from the cruise ship, which has caused around eight cases and three deaths as of May 11, was identified by the World Health Organization as the Andes strain.

Unlike most forms of hantavirus, which spread from rodents to humans, Andes is the only strain that is able to transmit from person to person, heightening fears about how outbreaks could unfold under the right conditions.

"The Andes strain has been increasing recently as rodents migrate north toward Buenos Aires in hot, wet climate conditions," Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, told Fox News Digital. "It is predominately a rodent virus – current sequencing shows no mutations so far."

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital's Melissa Rudy.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday that three individuals who call New York home are among a group being monitored for possible hantavirus exposure, though it remains unclear whether they will return to the state.

“We don’t know whether those individuals will be returning to New York,” Hochul said during a press briefing, noting that those under observation may complete a roughly 42-day monitoring period in Nebraska or choose to return while making other arrangements.

Hochul said the state Department of Health has been working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “from the beginning,” as officials track the situation.

While saying that there is no immediate cause for concern, the governor said New York is preparing for potential scenarios should conditions change.

“I’ve activated them to start preparing New York for worst-case scenarios and hope they don’t come,” Hochul said, referring to the state’s Wadsworth Laboratory. “But I cannot, as governor, not be prepared for anything that could happen.”

Hochul also raised concerns about federal public health capacity, citing prior cuts to the CDC and saying the state must be ready to respond independently if necessary.

“We have to step up and make sure that New York is helping lead the way here and bring together the smartest people to help us get ahead of this,” she said.

Two passengers exposed to the hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship were transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where officials say one is showing symptoms.

The symptomatic individual is receiving care in the biocontainment unit of the hospital’s Serious Communicable Diseases Unit, an Emory spokesperson said.

The other individual, identified as a close contact, was not showing symptoms, according to the spokesperson, who noted the individual was still undergoing evaluation and monitoring.

The two passengers were among 18 individuals who returned to the U.S. after exposure to the Andes strain of the hantavirus during the cruise.

The 16 others were isolating at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where one individual who tested positive for the virus is being monitored in a biocontainment unit.

President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that he was surprised World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had kept his position after the COVID-19 pandemic when seeing him handle the response to the recent hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship.

Trump defended his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO when a reporter asked him if he had any regrets considering the hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship, and further questioned the organization’s leadership.

“I saw the same doctor that was there… He’s a good politician. I don’t know how the hell he kept his job,” Trump said of Ghebreyesus.

Trump also argued that the organization treated the U.S. unfairly despite its financial contributions compared with other countries like China.

“We were paying the World Health Organization $500 million a year,” Trump said. “And we weren’t being treated well, and they were making the wrong diagnosis.”

“We were paying for, let’s say, 350 million people… $500 million a year,” he added. “China is paying $39 million a year for 1.4 billion people.”

Trump reiterated his longstanding claim that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China, accusing the WHO of failing to acknowledge it early on.

“I was the one that said it came from Wuhan. They didn’t say that,” he said. “They refused to say that because they were totally owned by China.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday said the hantavirus is “under control” after a group of Americans aboard an infected cruise ship returned to the country to isolate.

Kennedy said that CDC teams were on the case “from day one,” and he has personally been speaking with the University of Nebraska, where most of the Americans exposed to the virus are being monitored, since the second day of the outbreak.

“We have this under control, and we're not worried about it,” he said.

When a reporter pressed him on why it appeared to take four days longer than the World Health Organization for the CDC to issue an alert, Kennedy said that was false and the alert was issued as soon as they determined the virus was present.

President Donald Trump then interjected.

“Give me a break. They acted very, very quickly,” Trump told the reporter, before reiterating that it appears the virus cannot spread easily.

“I can't bet anybody's life on it, but it looks like it's just a disease that we've had around in a very small way for a long time. Not a good one to catch because, you know, it's a very severe disease if you catch it. But it's very hard to catch.”

President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. is “in very good shape” as Americans exposed to the hantavirus aboard a cruise ship returned to the country to isolate.

Trump responded to a reporter’s question about the hantavirus, saying it appears the disease is “very hard to spread” and health professionals are “very familiar with it.”

“We've lived with it for years, many years,” Trump said. “And we think we're in very good shape. We're very careful. And Nebraska has done a fantastic job.”

The president added that the doctors at the Nebraska Medical Center, where 16 of the 18 Americans were being assessed, “are unbelievable.”

Passengers from the hantavirus-linked cruise ship currently being monitored in Nebraska may not have to stay for the full quarantine — but any decision to leave will come with strict conditions, federal health officials say.

The group is now undergoing initial medical assessments, a process expected to take several days before officials determine next steps.

After the assessments, some passengers may be allowed to complete the 42-day monitoring period at home, but only if they meet specific safety requirements.

Dr. Brendan Jackson of the CDC said the decision will be made on a case-by-case basis, with officials closely evaluating each individual’s situation.

“First and foremost, do they remain symptom free,” Jackson said, outlining one of the key factors.

Health officials will also assess whether passengers can safely isolate at home, maintain contact with local health departments and quickly access testing or medical care if symptoms develop.

Only those who can meet those standards, and whose home states can coordinate monitoring, will be cleared to leave.

Still, officials emphasized that the final decision will ultimately involve the passengers themselves.

“Yes,” Jackson said when asked if it would be their choice. “We want to do this in the least restrictive way possible… that protects the health and safety of both the passengers and their communities.”

Jackson noted passengers can remain at the facility for the full monitoring period if needed.

The American cruise ship passenger who tested positive for the hantavirus is “doing well” as they isolate inside a biocontainment unit at the Nebraska Medical Center, health officials said during a Monday morning news conference.

“I’m happy to report… they are doing well,” Dr. Angela Hewlett, medical director of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, said of the individual. “They currently do not have any symptoms, and have a good appetite, although they’re very tired.”

Health officials say exhaustion is expected after what has been a grueling ordeal — from isolation on the ship to evacuation and now quarantine on U.S. soil.

Hewlett added that “everything appears to be going very smoothly.”

Passengers from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are now facing a new reality — life inside quarantine.

But officials told reporters at a news conference on Monday morning that it’s not quite what most people imagine.

“It is not a patient care space. It is much more like a hotel than a hospital room,” said Dr. Angela Hewlett, medical director of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, describing where many of the passengers are now being monitored.

Instead of IV poles and hospital beds, the quarantine unit is designed for observation — not treatment. Rooms are larger, equipped with TVs, and even include exercise equipment to help keep passengers comfortable during what could be weeks of monitoring.

Passengers who show symptoms are moved to a separate, high-security biocontainment unit, where doctors provide full hospital-level care for infectious diseases.

Health officials have shared where the Americans exposed to the hantavirus aboard a cruise ship will receive monitoring after they returned to the U.S. on Monday morning.

The 18 passengers were flown into Omaha, Nebraska, where 16 of them will remain in the care of the Nebraska Medical Center, while two others were moved to Atlanta, Dr. Brendan Jackson with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said during a news conference later Monday morning.

Officials earlier said there were 17 Americans aboard the cruise ship. On Monday, U.S. health officials said the 18th passenger was a British dual national who chose to come to the U.S.

Of the 16 remaining in Nebraska, 15 people were in quarantine, and one patient was in the biocontainment unit, said Dr. Michael Wadman, Medical Director of the National Quarantine.

Health officials clarified that the two passengers moved to Atlanta are a couple and one of the them was symptomatic. They were isolating in a biocontainment unit at Emory University.

Health officials said the part of the reason behind moving the two people to Atlanta was to make sure that the biocontainment unit at the medical center in Nebraska has enough space to adequately care for anyone who might need it.

Health officials in Nebraska are set to speak at 10 a.m. ET on Monday after 18 Americans exposed to a deadly hantavirus aboard a cruise ship landed earlier that morning, with one American testing positive for the virus.

The American who tested positive was not showing any symptoms, though another American had mild symptoms, U.S. health officials said late Sunday.

The passengers were evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship after it anchored in the Spain’s Canary Islands. They were then flown to Nebraska, where would first be taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility.

“One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival, while other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring. The passenger who is going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms,” said Kayla Thomas, a spokesperson for the Nebraska Medicine network that will help care for the passengers.

Since the evacuation of more than 140 people aboard the ship began Sunday, a French woman has also tested positive for hantavirus after developing symptoms on the flight to Paris, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist told public broadcaster France-Inter on Monday. The woman's health worsened in the hospital overnight, Rist added.

Three people have died since the outbreak began, and six people have been infected, WHO spokesperson Sarah Tyler said Monday. She said one person from the U.S. showed inconclusive lab results.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.