How concerned New Yorkers should be about Hantavirus

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Now to the latest on the hunt virus.

[00:00:02]American passengers on that cruise ship are now back in the US. They include three New Yorkers, one from the city, another from Orange County, a third from Westchester. And joining us now is Dr. James McDonald, New York State Department of Health Commissioner.

[00:00:15]Welcome.

[00:00:16]>> Good morning, Mary. Good to be with you this morning.

[00:00:18]>> After the pandemic, when we hear the words contagious virus, a lot of people get concerned. What is the current risk to New Yorkers?

[00:00:27]>> Yeah, right now, Mary, there's no risk to New Yorkers. Keep in mind these three New Yorkers are actually in Nebraska right now, you know, and really I think we just have to be honest. They've gone through a terrible ordeal. And you know, my first concern is their health and well-being. And then of course protecting the health and wellbeing of all New York State. So I think it's important to remember right now they're in Nebraska. There is no cons no risk to New Yorkers.

[00:00:48]>> And can you tell me what they might be going through in Nebraska right now?

[00:00:52]>> Yeah. So they're in quarantine units.

[00:00:55]Now this is a little bit better than it sounds. They're hotel rooms. They have exercise equipment in it. Food is brought to them. They have internet.

[00:01:02]They have television. You know, these are really nice hotel rooms that they're in. And really, they're just there to be protected because really, keep in mind, their health and well-being is very important to everybody. So, if they were to have signs or symptoms, they could be really medically treated right away.

[00:01:18]Keep in mind, I used to work on the Navajo reservation many years ago. We saw HANA virus there. We know if people get treatment early, they do better because it can be a very serious disease.

[00:01:28]>> And what are the symptoms?

[00:01:31]>> You know, it starts out fever, muscle aches, sometimes in large muscle groups.

[00:01:36]It almost feels like someone's got a bad flu, but then it can really go down quickly from there because keep in mind, it's called haunt virus pulmonary syndrome. People run into problems with their lungs and their kidneys. And you know, it can be a serious disease, but again, right now there's no risk to anybody in New York State. So at first we were hearing this wasn't transmissible person to person but then that changed a bit. Tell me what is the transmission.

[00:02:01]>> Yeah. So the Andes virus is in the family of haunt virus but it has been reported to spread person to person.

[00:02:09]It's not commonly spread that way.

[00:02:11]Usually it's spread by this rat the wild longtailed pygmy rat. Uh, but keep in mind as far as transmissibility goes, although it may not be super contagious, it does spread from person to person, whether it's from body fluids or close personal contact. And this is why it's really important at this point, let's be cautious, get all the information we can, and make sure we're protecting the health and well-being of not just the individuals in Nebraska, but the rest of the country.

[00:02:35]>> Yeah. On that issue, Governor Hokll said yesterday the state is preparing for a worst case scenario. What does that entail?

[00:02:43]Yeah. So, keep in mind we have a lot of really great hospitals in New York, but I really don't think you're going to see much of a risk to New York State because keep in mind the individuals are in Nebraska. And even if they were to come here, keep in mind there's this 42-day period of monitoring. And keep in mind what that would mean is people would be in their homes monitoring and really not at risk to the public. I think it's really important to understand that, you know, my job as your state health commissioner is to protect the health and wellbeing of these three people, but also protect the rest of New York State as well. And the governor has been very supportive of everything we've been doing here.

[00:03:16]>> And the the World Health Organization has said because the incubation period for the Hent virus is so long, we could see more cases pop up in the coming weeks. Is there anything people should be looking out for?

[00:03:29]So, this is one of the important things about having everybody in quarantine because keep in mind when I say that they're all in quarantine. They're not interacting with each other. This is something we can contain at this point.

[00:03:40]So, what's really important right now is let this 42-day clock just evaporate at this point. Keep in mind, as far as I can tell, it's going to end June 22nd.

[00:03:48]That's six weeks from yesterday. That's when this clock starts. And if we do that and contain it, then there really isn't any risk to the United States. To me, that seems like the most sensible approach for the entire country.

[00:04:00]>> Dr. James McDonald, New York State Department of Health Commissioner, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

[00:04:06]>> Thank you. Have a great day.

[00:04:07]>> You too. And stay with CBS News New York for continuing coverage of the antivirus outbreak.