The 17 Americans who were aboard the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship Hondius have now arrived home in the United States.
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A State Department plane carrying them landed at Omaha Eppley Airfield in Nebraska at about 2:30 a.m. ET Monday, and the passengers were due to be assessed and monitored at a nearby medical center.
Two Americans traveled in the plane’s biocontainment units “out of an abundance of caution,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
One passenger has tested positive, while another with mild symptoms will be taken to a separate health facility for treatment, it said.
“Upon arrival at each facility, each individual will undergo clinical assessment and receive appropriate care and support based on their condition,” the department said.
The Spanish Health Ministry said in a statement that the results for the passenger whom HHS said tested positive were “not conclusive.”
A test was performed and sent to two laboratories, Spanish authorities said. “In one of them, the result was considered by the US authorities as a weak positive, although for us it was not conclusive. The second analysis was negative. The person in question showed no symptoms while in Cape Verde; however, the US authorities have decided to treat the case as positive,” the health ministry said via Telegram.
One British national with U.S. citizenship was also on the flight, Spanish authorities said earlier.
Meanwhile, a woman who was among five French passengers repatriated Sunday to Paris from the Hondius has tested positive for hantavirus, and her health worsened in the hospital overnight, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Monday.
The Spanish Health Ministry said the French passenger started to feel unwell on the flight. “All measures adopted from the beginning have aimed to cut off possible chains of transmission. In a patient who develops fever, it would not be unusual for a case to appear among close contacts,” the ministry said.
The luxury cruise ship arrived early Sunday at the island of Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands off the coast of west Africa. Its long and arduous journey saw six confirmed cases and two suspected cases of the disease, usually associated with rodents, and the deaths of three passengers.
The disembarkation process from the Hondius was still ongoing on Monday afternoon and was expected to finish by the evening, a spokesperson for the ship’s operator told NBC.
The Dutch-flagged Hondius departed Argentina on April 1 with almost 150 on board on a nature sightseeing mission via some of the world’s most remote points.
A Dutch passenger then died at sea 11 days later. His body was taken off the ship as it stopped at the remote Atlantic island of St Helena. That passenger’s wife traveled from there to Johannesburg, where she died in a hospital days later, after being removed from a flight to Amsterdam because of her deteriorating condition.
The Spanish Ministry of Health said on Monday that widespread PCR testing was not conducted aboard the Hondius. The tests were carried out in Cape Verde “and included both the individuals identified by the ECDC epidemiologist as higher risk contacts and the three people showing symptoms, who were evacuated there.”
After those tests, the ship continued its journey with only asymptomatic passengers, the statement said. From then on, authorities received reports every 12 hours that indicated there were no new cases on the ship.
Passengers received health screenings upon arrival in Spain, the ministry statement said. The French passenger who developed a fever on the plane was given an “urgent PCR test,” according to the statement.
No Spanish passengers have shown symptoms as of Monday, but results from their samples are pending.
Americans on Hondius being treated in Omaha
U.S. health officials said 16 of the Americans would be treated at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center/Nebraska Medicine in Omaha.
Omaha Mayor John W. Ewing Jr. said Sunday night: “We are confident in the quality of care that these individuals will receive, along with the protocols to keep healthcare workers safe.”
A medical tent was set up to receive the passengers, with health officials wearing full-body protective clothing. Locals in Tenerife had opposed the ship’s arrival and raised fears that hantavirus could spread beyond the Hondius’ crew and guests, but these concerns were overruled by Spain’s national government in Madrid.
One traveler, Jake Rosmarin, posted from his quarantine room “to let everyone know I’m okay and feeling well.”
Rosmarin wrote in an Instagram post that the “repatriation flight was smooth” and that he arrived safely in Nebraska.
A photo in his post showed the room, which featured no windows but appeared to have a spin bike and a smart TV.
“It’s been a very long few days, but hopefully I can start giving more updates again soon,” Rosmarin wrote. “Thank you again to everyone who has been supportive throughout all of this; it truly means a lot.”
In a video shared Monday morning, Jan Dobrogowski, the captain of the Hondius, thanked passengers and crew members while acknowledging the difficult weeks they have faced on board.
He lauded the “patience, discipline, and kindness shown to each other” throughout.
“At sea, people depend on each other,” Dobrogowski said. “There’s no readily available risk services standing by to come to your house in an emergency, so perseverance is an expected quality, perhaps, but I’ve seen, I’ve witnessed, way more, way more this time around.”
Dobrogowski took time to thank the crew on the Hondius for their “courage and their selfless resolve that they showed time and again in the most difficult moments,” Dobrogowski said. “I cannot imagine sailing through these circumstances with a better group of people — guests and crew alike.”
The captain expressed condolences for those whose lives were lost, and asked for privacy for himself, his crew and the guests on the voyage.
Other passengers being evacuated
Hantavirus infections among people are rare and have never previously been recorded on a cruise ship.
A World Health Organization investigation is underway to pinpoint the origin of this outbreak, with particular attention placed on a birdwatching trip in southern Argentina, which the first passenger to die took part in before joining the cruise.
American and global health officials have stressed throughout this outbreak that the risk to the wider public is low and that transmission is limited to close contact.
Other countries are working to evacuate, monitor and isolate former Hondius passengers. As of Monday morning, 54 people were still on board the ship. Another 28 are set to disembark on Monday in the Canary Islands, and 26 will continue on board to the Netherlands.
A plane carrying 14 Spanish passengers took off for Madrid on Sunday, while French, Canadian and British passengers were also flown back to their countries.
The U.K. government said 20 British nationals, one German citizen who is a U.K. resident, and a Japanese passenger are being kept in a hospital in northwest England for 72 hours and will be asked to isolate for 45 days at home. None are showing any symptoms.
The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health said one person is being treated after testing positive, and that person’s wife is self-isolating as a precaution. In addition, a Swiss crew member is also in quarantine in the Netherlands, and another Swiss national is self-isolating in Switzerland.
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia told a news conference Sunday that a plane would leave for Australia later on Monday with six passengers from Australia, New Zealand and across Asia.
A plane left for the Netherlands on Sunday with 18 people on board, including some Hondius crew and passengers from countries that didn’t organize repatriation flights, such as Belgium and Greece.
As for the Hondius itself, the ship has refueled ahead of a planned journey back to the Netherlands with 30 on board, as well as the body of the German passenger who died at sea.
