U.S. cruise ship hantavirus contacts begin 42-day quarantine monitoring at Nebraska facility and home locations

U.S. cruise passengers exposed to hantavirus have returned home and entered quarantine protocols. More than a dozen are at University of Nebraska Medical Center for 42-day monitoring, with individual rooms, meals, and medical staff oversight. Additional exposed individuals are quarantining at home across several states, including Washington and California, under CDC guidance restricting shared living spaces, food, and social contact. Health officials note hantavirus is difficult to acquire but potentially fatal, and those quarantining at home must remain near advanced medical facilities capable of providing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support if pulmonary symptoms worsen. Authorities are pursuing voluntary compliance agreements initially before considering legal quarantine orders. All individuals in quarantine are currently asymptomatic and non-contagious.