Five Americans Exposed to Hantavirus on Cruise Ship Released Early from Nebraska Quarantine to Finish Monitoring at Home

U.S. citizens who were quarantined in Nebraska after exposure to hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship have been cleared to complete their remaining isolation at home, Gov. Jim Pillen announced Tuesday.

The five individuals arrived in Omaha roughly three weeks earlier after the ship’s South Atlantic voyage triggered an outbreak. They are among 16 people sent to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s National Quarantine Unit; two additional passengers were sent to Emory University in Atlanta.

Pillen said the move reflects lower-risk profiles and coordination with health authorities in the passengers’ home states.

“This is a positive development and the product of the ongoing partnership between the state of Nebraska, UNMC, and our federal health partners,” he stated. The governor added that guests still at the quarantine unit will finish their 42-day period there.

“No guest who poses a public health risk will leave the NQU onto the streets of Omaha in an unsecured way or at an inappropriate time,” he wrote.

Eighteen people linked to the MV Hondius were brought to the United States in May for monitoring. The World Health Organization recorded 13 confirmed or probable cases and three deaths worldwide from the outbreak. Hantavirus is endemic to South America and transmitted by rodents.

U.S. population remains low. Separately, Arizona officials reported Monday that a state resident died from a different strain of hantavirus; that case has not been connected to the cruise-ship outbreak.

One American passenger, Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, was initially sent to the Nebraska biocontainment unit after a positive test. He later tested negative and said there was “no evidence” he had contracted the virus, describing the first result as a false positive.