2 new hantavirus exposures linked to the Bay Area

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:01]From ABC 7, live breaking news.

[00:00:05]And that breaking news regards the deadly hantavirus outbreak with new exposures linked to the Bay Area tonight. We know a passenger aboard the cruise ship where it all started is from San Mateo County. Good evening. I'm Ama Daetz.

[00:00:18]>> And I'm Dan Ashley. Thanks for joining us. Health leaders say the risk to the public still low and they are taking every precaution to stop the spread. We have learned a San Mateo County resident was flown to a quarantine facility in Nebraska along with at least one other Californian. Now, there's no sign they are showing symptoms. We know another cruise ship passenger is being monitored at home in Santa Clara County. And tonight we're learning of another exposed person who traveled through a local airport now in quarantine at a remote island in the Pacific. ABC 7 Eyewitness News reporter Tim Johns is here with us in the studio with details, uh Tim, of that person's movements.

[00:00:55]Dan, um officials in French Polynesia say a person who was exposed to hantavirus flew through SFO last week as part of an international trip. Now, from there the traveler flew to Tahiti and then to another French Polynesian island before arriving on the small and remote Pitcairn Island where she is now being monitored.

[00:01:16]On Tuesday ABC 7 Eyewitness News learned of two hantavirus exposures with ties to our area. The first involving a woman identified only as a US citizen who flew out of SFO on May the 7th to French Polynesia. After staying there over the weekend, French Polynesian authorities say they learned the woman had been in contact with a positive hantavirus case.

[00:01:36]They then quarantined her on another island nearby despite her not showing any symptoms. Details of the incident seemingly unknown to many Bay Area officials. Did we know about this individual in San Mateo County or transitioning out of San Francisco Airport? This is the first time I I heard this. You know, this is something that um you know, I'm I want to look into >> San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa says while he doesn't have many details, he's asking local health authorities to look into the incident. Canepa tells me it appears the woman was passing through SFO and not necessarily a Bay Area resident.

[00:02:11]If someone has this, we have to make sure that they're not able to leave and then go to another country. The second instance involves a San Mateo County resident who was exposed on board the now infamous MV Handius cruise ship. That's according to county communications reviewed by ABC 7 Eyewitness News. They add that person is currently in quarantine with a handful of other Americans in a specialty facility in Nebraska. As a public health person, it would have been better to keep them isolated on the ship. Dr. Monica Gandhi is an infectious disease expert at UCSF. She believes letting the passengers on board the MV Handius leave before the 42-day incubation period was over was a mistake as it opens up more people to possible exposure. Gandhi cautions though that the risk to the public remains low, mainly because of the way the virus spreads. She tells me people need to have symptoms and be in close contact to others to spread the disease. Not passing someone, not standing next to someone with a runny nose in a line, but close personal contact.

[00:03:18]So far a total of 11 people worldwide are confirmed to have been infected with the hantavirus as part of this outbreak.

[00:03:24]Of those, three have died.