Will Hantavirus be the next COVID?

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:01]Will hantavirus be the next COVID?

[00:00:02][music] Here are the facts.

[00:00:06]Gene Hackman's wife died from it in February.

[00:00:10]New Mexico has confirmed seven cases this year. Three of them died.

[00:00:15]Three more died last month [music] in Mammoth Lakes, California.

[00:00:20]Then a passenger on a cruise ship caught it.

[00:00:25]Of everyone who gets the lung version, 38% [music] die.

[00:00:30]There is no vaccine. There is no specific treatment.

[00:00:35]So, how does it actually kill people?

[00:00:40]The virus is called Sin Nombre, Spanish for no name.

[00:00:45]It lives in deer mice across the western United States.

[00:00:50]Their urine, droppings, and saliva all carry it.

[00:00:55]The virus dries onto surfaces in cabins, sheds, and garages.

[00:01:00]When the dust [music] is disturbed, the virus becomes airborne.

[00:01:05]Once inhaled, it crosses [music] straight into the lungs.

[00:01:10]The first symptoms [music] are indistinguishable from the flu.

[00:01:15]Within 36 hours, [music] the lungs fill with fluid and victims drown.

[00:01:20]So, is it the next [music] COVID? Here is the answer.

[00:01:25]No. And the reason is simple.

[00:01:30]Hantavirus does not spread between humans.

[00:01:35]Not by cough, not by breath, not by touch.

[00:01:40]Every recorded [music] case has required direct contact with a rodent.

[00:01:45]Without a path between people, the virus cannot pandemic. [music] But there is something to actually worry about.

[00:01:55]The hantavirus family includes strains that have already mutated.

[00:02:00]The Andes strain in South America can spread person-to-person.

[00:02:04]If Sin Nombre ever evolves that ability, the math changes overnight.

[00:02:10]Hantavirus will not be the next [music] COVID, not yet.