Pillen Assures Safety As Nebraska Hosts Passengers From Hantavirus-hit Ship

OMAHA — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen tried to assure the public that a “strong” plan is in place to safely handle 16 American passengers of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship who arrived early Monday to the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus in midtown Omaha.

Of the group brought to Nebraska, 15 who have shown no symptoms of the disease are being monitored in the hotel room-like quarters of a quarantine unit. That unit is the only federally funded facility designed to safely house and observe people who may have been exposed to high-consequence infectious diseases.

Another of the group who had tested positive for the virus, which killed three passengers while they were on the ship, is in a more intensive care appropriate biocontainment unit, also at the UNMC campus. Officials said that person currently was not showing any symptoms, but was handled differently out of an “abundance of caution.” 

Pillen, who was among a slate of federal and state officials speaking at a Monday press conference, called the handoff of passengers from the Canary Islands dock to Nebraska facilities a “highly coordinated effort” that has gone “incredibly smoothly.”

He said it was not the first time the state has been called upon for critical medical situations, referring to the UNMC involvement in Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks. He tried to allay public concern of spread.

“We’re working diligently to ensure no one leaves this security in an unsecured way at an inappropriate time,” Pillen said. “No one who poses a risk to public health is walking out the front door (to) the streets of Omaha or beyond.”

Admiral Brian Christine, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, described the virus’ risk to the general public as “very very low” but taken seriously.

“Transparency is the order of the day,” he said.

Previously, UNMC officials said they were expecting all of the Americans that were to disembark from the cruise ship MV Hondius. They believed the number to be 17 at the time, but an 18th had dual citizenship and joined the American group, the officials said.

“UNMC was selected as the U.S. entry point due to its extensive expertise in handling special pathogens and it’s the only national quarantine in the country,” said John Knox, principal deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Two of the 18, a couple that had been traveling together, were transported to an Atlanta facility that also is part of the national emergency response system, he said. 

Asked why the couple went elsewhere, Dr. Jeffrey Gold, president of the University of Nebraska and others said they wanted to preserve optimal space in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, should the need arise for more intense treatment of passengers.

Dr. Angela Hewlett, medical director of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, said the people from the cruise ship sent to UNMC were given an opportunity to rest Monday morning before undergoing more questioning that will help in the assessment process. For example, they will be asked how much contact they had with someone who was exposed, to help determine when a typical 42-day incubation period for the virus ends.

Officials said that depending on an assessment and circumstances at home, a passenger potentially could finish the incubation period away from the UNMC.

Hewlett said the passenger who went to the biocontainment unit was “doing well.” Dr. Michael Wadman, medical director of the quarantine unit, described those in that facility as being  in “good shape” and “good spirits.”

Should someone in the quarantine unit develop symptoms, Hewlett said they would be moved to the biocontainment unit to receive treatment ranging from clinical monitoring to critical care. That unit, activated in 2014 to treat American Ebola patients evacuated from Africa, has a voluntary staff of select nurses, doctors and infectious disease specialists.

Both quarantine and biocontainment units were activated locally in 2020 for the care and management of U.S. citizens from Wuhan, China, and from the Diamond Princess Cruise ship who were exposed to COVID-19.

Officials have said that UNMC and Nebraska Medicine have prepared for situations such as this. The lineup of professionals speaking Monday praised the state and federal cooperation and partnership thus far.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hantaviruses are a family of diseases that spread to people from rodents through urine, droppings or saliva. It can take up to eight weeks after contact for symptoms to develop.

The Andes virus, which is the variant involved in the ship’s outbreak, can be transmitted through close human-to-human contact, the CDC said. Christine on Monday said that contact requires “prolonged close contact with somebody already symptomatic.”

Hewlett said that while “there are some unknowns,” she noted that the virus is not new.

She said the risk of spread is different, for example, from COVID-19, which was airborne.

Gold said people from UNMC and Nebraska Medicine were honored to have their part in handling the outbreak.

“There is no place in the country that they could be better cared for more safely and more effectively,” he said.