Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE) announced on Tuesday that five U.S. citizens quarantined in Nebraska after being exposed to hantavirus on a cruise ship are heading back home.
Eighteen people aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship were taken to the United States in May for monitoring after a hantavirus outbreak was linked to the vessel. Sixteen were taken to the prestigious University of Nebraska Medical Center’s National Quarantine Unit, while two others were sent to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Five individuals quartered in Nebraska have now been authorized to complete their 42-day quarantine period at their homes, roughly three weeks after first arriving in Omaha following a deadly outbreak of hantavirus on the ship traveling in the South Atlantic Ocean.
“This is a positive development and the product of the ongoing partnership between the state of Nebraska, UNMC, and our federal health partners,” Pillen said in a statement. “While it is encouraging that many of our guests are remaining at the NQU for the last few weeks of their hantavirus quarantine, those who have elected to go home are doing so with a lower risk profile and in close coordination with health authorities in their destination states.
