Nebraska Biocontainment Unit Clears First U.S. Passenger; French Patient Still on Artificial Lung as Hondius Case Count Hits 11
The first American passenger held at the Nebraska biocontainment facility has been cleared after a retest came back negative — but the broader MV Hondius outbreak is NOT over. A French woman remains critically ill on an artificial lung in Paris, the total case count has climbed to 11, and passengers are now quarantined across more than a dozen countries. Here's what changed.
The Nebraska Clearance One U.S. passenger who had tested positive for hantavirus in the Canary Islands has been released from the Nebraska biocontainment unit after a follow-up test came back negative, according to the New York Times. Sixteen other Americans remain isolated in Omaha — including 29-year-old Jake Rosmarin of Boston, who told BBC News on Wednesday he is making egg sandwiches from a numbered menu and waiting for a mattress pad to arrive in the mail. He expects to be there for 40 days . The doctor who assisted passengers aboard the ship was also placed in the Nebraska isolation unit. According to AP News, that physician has since been cleared. The fact that a treating doctor ended up in biocontainment reflects how seriously officials are treating person-to-person transmission risk. The French Patient Is Still on a Machine Breathing for Her A French woman who was a passenger on the MV Hondius is breathing with the help of an artificial lung in Paris, according to the New York Times. She remains critically ill. The Case Count: 11 and Climbing As of the most recent available figures, the total case count tied to the MV Hondius stands at 11 , with 8 confirmed and 3 suspected , according to Wikipedia's running tracker updated May 13, 2026. Three people are dead. The CDC's Health Alert Network advisory, issued May 8, 2026, confirmed six laboratory-confirmed cases and two suspected at that point — with the Andes virus specifically identified as the strain on May 6, according to WHO. Andes virus is the only known hantavirus that spreads between humans . Every other hantavirus requires direct contact with infected rodent excrement. Andes can move person to person through close, sustained contact — and may be airborne, according to Wikipedia's summary of the scientific literature. WHO told the world this is still a low global risk. "Low global risk" and "safe" are not equivalent terms. Where the Passengers Are Now The ship's original passengers have all disembarked. According to Wikipedia, former passengers are now hospitalized or quarantined in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Saint Helena, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States . Evacuation flights out of Tenerife, Canary Islands — where the ship arrived May 10 after Spanish authorities approved docking — repatriated passengers to six European countries and Canada. The CDC classified this as a Level 3 emergency response . WHO has not declared a specific emergency level. A Separate Cruise Ship Story the Media Is Conflating Some coverage has blurred two distinct cruise ship outbreaks. The BBC reported Wednesday that passengers on the Ambition — operated by Ambassador Cruise Line, docked in Bordeaux, France — were cleared to disembark after a norovirus outbreak sickened 49 of the ship's 1,000-plus passengers. Norovirus typically causes gastroenteritis with a two-day recovery period. A 92-year-old man did die aboard the Ambition on Sunday, but French health authorities said his death is unrelated to the norovirus outbreak and his cause of death remains unknown. The two outbreaks are distinct events. What the Washington Post Got Right (And Wrong) The Washington Post ran an opinion piece noting that 11 hantavirus deaths in Argentina were a warning sign that predated this outbreak. The 2025 outbreak in Argentina's Patagonia region, also Andes virus, killed more than a dozen people and received almost no international attention. Framing this as a warning that wasn't heeded implies someone had the power and obligation to prevent an outbreak on a cruise ship traveling remote Antarctic waters. Andes virus outbreaks are not new, and the science on human-to-human transmission has been known for years. Cruise lines operating in Ushuaia and South Georgia — Andes virus territory — would have benefited from established protocols before April 2026. Whether Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the Hondius, had those protocols ready is a question that hasn't been answered publicly. What This Means for Regular People If you are not on the MV Hondius or in close contact with someone who was, your personal risk is effectively zero. WHO and CDC agree on that assessment. But if you were on that ship and haven't been contacted by public health authorities — get tested. The incubation period for Andes virus runs weeks, and mild early symptoms resemble the flu. For everyone else: this is a real outbreak being managed by Nebraska's biocontainment infrastructure, international health authorities, and the CDC, which deployed a team to the Canary Islands on May 7 to assess Americans before repatriation flights. The people in those Omaha quarantine rooms are ordering mattress pads and making egg sandwiches and waiting 40 days to find out if they got lucky.
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