CRUISE SHIP HANTAVIRUS: Maryland officials monitor two possible exposures

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]To Maryland where the Department of Health has confirmed that they are monitoring two people who may have come in contact with somebody from that hantavirus-stricken cruise ship. The virus now blamed for killing three people on that cruise and making several others sick. Now to protect their privacy, Maryland health officials will not say where those two are being monitored. Dr. Kirsten Lyke, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, specializes in these viruses and has even worked on a vaccine. She says there's no need to panic because the two Maryland residents were likely not exposed long enough. It's not like COVID. It's not like the measles.

[00:00:33]It takes being in a closed area for a prolonged period of time. The idea was to kind of develop a vaccine that would be interchangeable for all these types of viruses.

[00:00:47]Now, there have been no hantavirus cases in Maryland since 2019 and even then it was not this particular strain that hit people on the cruise ship. This strain is mostly isolated in South America. The Virginia Department of Health is also monitoring someone who may have been exposed to a hantavirus. Officials say a Virginia traveler was on the ship where the outbreak started. That person has since returned home and is in good health. The health department says they'll continue to monitor that person and try to identify anyone else who may have potentially been exposed.

[00:01:15]>> is health officials working to ease concerns over the hantavirus outbreak that we first learned about. The outbreak of course nearly a week ago after three cruise ship passengers died from the disease.

[00:01:25]>> Well, now the Maryland Department of Health confirms it is monitoring two residents who may have come in contact with someone who was infected on that ship. So, John Rogers is at the alert desk now. So, John, at this point those two Maryland residents are just being monitored. That does not mean they have hantavirus.

[00:01:41]>> So, it's important to stress there is no cause for alarm here. Officials are saying that these two Marylanders were on the same flight as one of the passengers. So, they may have been exposed to the hantavirus, but this is key here. The risk of them actually catching the disease is low. Hantavirus is not as easily transferable as COVID was. Maryland has not had a hantavirus case since 2019, and the Andes strain, which was detected on that ship, has never been reported in the state.

[00:02:09]Meanwhile, all passengers have since been evacuated, and all over the world they're being monitored or in quarantine. Some are hospitalized. 18 US passengers are being monitored at medical units. 16 of those, including one who tested positive, are in Nebraska. The quarantine unit is similar to a hotel. None of the passengers in Nebraska are showing symptoms, though one person in Atlanta is showing symptoms. So, I know I sound like a broken record, but it's always worth repeating, folks. Health officials say the risk to the public is low, and the public should not panic.

[00:02:43]All right, John, thank you. Well, the Virginia Department of Health is also monitoring someone who may have been exposed to hantavirus. Officials say one of the travelers on that ship is from Virginia, but didn't say where, only that they have since returned home and are in good health. The department says they will continue to monitor that person and try to identify anyone else who may have been exposed.

[00:03:02]>> Right now, health officials across the country are [music] working to ease concerns over the possible spread of hantavirus, but now the Maryland Department of Health is confirming they are monitoring two residents who may have come in contact with someone who was infected on that hantavirus-stricken cruise ship. John Rogers is following the story for us at the alert desk. So, John, at this point, the two Maryland residents are just being monitored for symptoms. That doesn't mean that they have it.

[00:03:25]>> Right, Adriana. So, there is no cause for alarm. Those two Marylanders were on the same flight as one of the passengers. So, they may have been exposed to the hantavirus, but this is key here. The risk of them catching the disease is low. Hantavirus is not as easily transferable as COVID is.

[00:03:43]Maryland has not had a hantavirus case since 2019, and they have never had the Andes strain in the state. That was the strain that was detected on that ship.

[00:03:53]Meanwhile, all passengers have since evacuated from the vessel. All over the world, these passengers are being monitored. Some are in quarantine, others are hospitalized. 18 US passengers are being monitored at medical units. 16 of those, including one who tested positive, are in Nebraska. The quarantine unit there is similar to a hotel. None of the passengers in Nebraska are showing symptoms, thankfully, though one person in Atlanta is showing symptoms. So, I know I sound like a broken record, folks, but it's always worth repeating.

[00:04:21]Health officials stress that the risk to the public is low and no one should panic.

[00:04:27]I say I call a lot of times I'll call these gunners cuz they're phenomenal geniuses.

[00:04:32]You know, where did you go to school? I went to MIT. Where did you go to school?

[00:04:36]I went to the best schools. Smart.

[00:04:39]Got to be smart. We have the greatest military in the world. Okay. Mr. President, back to motherhood. You're one big beautiful bell. I like that.

[00:04:48]>> [laughter] >> Because this is about motherhood, not about the beautiful country of Iran. Go ahead.

[00:04:54]Mr. President, you're one big beautiful bell. You funded Planned Parenthood for 1 year, but that expires on this July 4th. Would you like Congress to use reconciliation Well, we're going to see what happens. Congress is now negotiating. Uh we've been uh very good for the people that wanted for the people that are here. And uh we'll see how that goes. It's been a very thorny, to put it to put it mildly, it's been a very thorny issue. Uh it's it's all under negotiation right now. Yes, ma'am.

[00:05:22]Would you like to see that defunded? You go ahead, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Um what do you think about the handling of the uh hantavirus by the US?

[00:05:32]>> I think fine. Do you regret um withdrawing from the WHO, given that >> No, I'm I'm glad.

[00:05:39]So, we were paying the World Health Organization $500 a year. Look, it's a lot of money, but in the overall scope, it's not that much, but it's a lot of money.

[00:05:51]And we weren't being treated well.

[00:05:55]And they were making the wrong diagnosis. I was the one that said it came from Wuhan. They didn't say that.

[00:06:00]They refused to say that because they were totally owned by China.

[00:06:04]So, I was saying it came from Wuhan.

[00:06:07]They didn't want to say that. Now, it's turned out, I think it's conclusive that it came from Wuhan, but I said that on the first day because I saw satellite pictures with body bags all over Wuhan.

[00:06:17]Literally all over Wuhan.

[00:06:19]So, I said that they lied to me or they didn't know.

[00:06:23]So, we were paying for let's say 350 million people, we were paying $500 million a year to the World Health Organization. That's a lot of money, but the hell are they going to do with that kind of money?

[00:06:36]And China was paying $39 million a year for 1.4 billion people.

[00:06:43]So, I said, "You know, you got your story wrong because we should be paying about $10 million, not $500 million."

[00:06:50]And they were willing to negotiate, but it was so popular when I pulled out.

[00:06:54]They gave us all wrong information on COVID. They were totally wrong.

[00:06:58]And I looked today and I saw the same doctor that was there. He's a good politician. I don't know how the hell he got his job, but he was there telling us about this. Now, the one thing with this one is that it's much harder to catch.

[00:07:12]And we've had it for a long we've it's been around for a long time. People are very familiar with it. So, uh you know, I hope it's fine. All I can do is uh everything that a president can do, which is some which is actually somewhat limited, but but uh it seems like it is not uh easy to spread.

[00:07:31]In fact, it's in certain ways very hard to spread.

[00:07:35]It's been we've we've lived with it for years, many years, and we think we're in very good shape.

[00:07:40]We're very careful. And has done a fantastic job. They have a a uh a place there that those doctors are unbelievable. The job they've done.

[00:07:50]Yeah, please.

[00:07:51]>> Mr. President, are you going to suspend the federal gas tax?

[00:07:54]Uh yeah, I'm going to uh reduce until they Let me tell you, as soon as this is over with Iran, as soon as it's