Maryland and Virginia residents under monitoring for Hantavirus

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]The Maryland Department of Health has confirmed two Maryland residents are being monitored for potential haunt virus exposure. The health department says they flew on a plane with one of the MVHIA's cruise ships passengers who has tested positive for the virus. And tonight, we want to take some time to clear up some of the misinformation surrounding the virus. And joining us now is Dr. William Shaner with the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Dr. Shaner, thank you so much for joining us again.

[00:00:27]>> Always good to be with you, Annie.

[00:00:28]>> Thank you. I mean, there's so much information going on, a lot of concerned uh people understandably. So, uh we know in Maryland and Virginia, there are three people being monitored after possible exposure tied to this cruise ship outbreak. What does possible exposure actually mean? Can you give us a sense about what this means? And does it mean that those people are sick?

[00:00:52]Well, it usually means that those persons are not sick. And a possible exposure means that they're not sure that the patients actually the individuals were actually exposed to someone who was sick who could transmit the virus, but they may have been on the cruise ship, but never encountered those persons. So they're not exactly sure whether they were ever in contact with the virus.

[00:01:22]>> Health officials say people potentially exposed to the virus will be monitored for 42 days, which is considered the incubation period. Uh some may be allowed to isolate at home after an initial assessment. How can you explain how that monitoring process actually works? what officials are actually watching for during those 42 days and and how state and local health departments would handle someone isolating at home.

[00:01:48]>> Well, that usually means, but we'll learn the details as we go along, but it usually means that those persons will be confined to their homes. Maybe they can go out in their backyards and such, but they should not have contact with other persons. In other words, food, entertainment, and things would have to be brought into them so that they can't themselves go out, for example, to the supermarket or the drugstore. So, they'll be at home. They usually take their temperatures twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

[00:02:22]and they actually make a report to the local health authorities on an annual basis reviewing their whether they have any symptoms of any kind and then telling the health department what their temperatures were. If of course they develop a fever or any kind of symptoms, they would receive further medical evaluation. You know, a lot of people are making comparisons to CO uh especially when they hear about cruise ships and outbreaks. Those those words are very triggering. And is that a fair comparison at this point or is this a very different kind of public health situation that we're looking at?

[00:03:03]>> I ask everyone to take a deep breath and step back because the circumstances are very different. Uh COVID and influenza were highly contagious. This virus is not. uh covid influenza can be spread by people who have minimum or no symptoms.

[00:03:22]That appears not to be true for this virus. You have to have symptoms in order to transmit the infection to someone else. So I think there is little to no chance that this virus will get out and become rampant in the community the way influenza and covid can. It appears to be a very focal circumstance.

[00:03:46]There will be probably a few more cases among passengers and maybe even a few of their contacts, but this should be well contained and should not spread widely.