Two rat virus cruise ship passengers clad in heavy-duty hazmat gear were led down the steps of a jumbo jet at America’s busiest airport after arriving back in the US today.
The passengers, who are reportedly asymptomatic but have tested positive for hantavirus, arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport this morning around 9am on a special flight from Omaha, Nebraska.
They are being transported to Emory University Hospital in specially equipped ambulances that are similar to those used during the Ebola outbreak.
The hazmat suit wearing patients were among the 17 Americans flown on a Boeing 747 to Nebraska overnight amid rising global panic over how far the deadly illness might have spread.
The jumbo jet touched down in Omaha just before 2.30am Monday after a more than nine hour journey from Tenerife, Spain.
All were passengers on the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, which left Argentina on April 1 and made several stops as it crossed the Atlantic, carrying around 149 people representing 23 different nationalities.
The first signs of the virus – which has a 40 percent mortality rate – were on April 6th when a Dutch man fell ill onboard the ship. He died five days later. His body was removed from the vessel in St. Helena island on April 24, when his wife also disembarked. She then flew to South Africa a day later and died.
By then, twenty-nine other passengers had left the ship and returned to their home countries, including seven Americans. They are being monitored by health officials in their six home states; Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas, Virginia and New Jersey.
A total of three passengers have died from the virus, including the Dutch man, his wife and a German woman who died onboard the ship on May 2. Health officials believe the outbreak stems from two passengers who may have been exposed to the virus during a birdwatching tour at a landfill in Argentina.
Two passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship who have been exposed to the deadly hantavirus outbreak arrive in Atlanta for medical care and assessments
The passengers were transported to Emory University Hospital in specially equipped ambulances that are similar to those used during the Ebola outbreak
The 17 people who landed in Nebraska overnight do not include the Americans who left the ship shortly before the outbreak erupted.
One of American passengers has tested positive for the hantavirus but is not showing any symptoms, US health officials said late Sunday. Another had mild symptoms.
Four Canadians were among the asymptomatic passengers on board the MV Hondius when it docked in Spain on Sunday. They have since arrived in British Columbia and were ordered to quarantine.
Canadian health officials have identified at least four other people – from Quebec, Alberta and Ontario – who were not on the ship but may have come in contact with an infected person while flying.
After landing at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, the American cruise ship passengers were transferred to awaiting buses and driven away from the airport.
Those who landed in Nebraska earlier today have been taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they have been in close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.
Travel blogger Jake Rosmarin, who was on the flight, shared a smiling selfie on his Instagram page this morning, telling his followers how he is ‘okay and feeling well.’
‘The repatriation flight was smooth, and I safely made it to the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha. It’s been a very long few days, but hopefully I can start giving more updates again soon,’ he captioned the photo.
‘A special thank you as well to University of Nebraska Medical Center and the city of Omaha for welcoming us and helping ensure we are safe and cared for.’
Travel blogger Jake Rosmarin, who was on the repatriation flight that landed in Omaha early Monday morning, shared this smiling selfie this morning, telling his Instagram followers that he is ‘okay and feeling well’
A chartered aircraft carrying passengers evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was affected by a hantavirus outbreak, arriving at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska
One passenger was transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival, while others were sent to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring.
‘The passenger who is going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms,’ said Kayla Thomas, a spokesperson for the Nebraska Medicine network that will help care for the passengers.
The university medical center also has a special unit for treating people with highly infectious diseases that was used early in the pandemic for COVID-19 patients and previously for Ebola patients.
A CDC official on Saturday said they ‘hope’ the passengers’ time in Nebraska will be limited, The Washington Post reported.
‘The overall monitoring period will be 42 days, but this is not necessarily all [happening] in Nebraska,’ the official said, adding that they are ‘working with the passengers about what they feel most comfortable doing.’
The MV Hondius cruise ship has been at the center of global concern after three passengers died following the outbreak of the rare virus.
Nations around the world are now scrambling to repatriate passengers from the ship.
Eight cases have been confirmed in the hantavirus outbreak, and two more are listed as ‘probable’, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and national health authorities, with citizens of six countries affected.
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A motorcade carrying passengers evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was affected by a hantavirus outbreak, leaves Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska
Personnel from various agencies assist in the disembarkation of passengers evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was affected by a hantavirus outbreak, and arrived on a chartered aircraft at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska
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Spain’s health ministry said ‘all measures’ had been taken to stop the virus spreading during the evacuations, in which medical teams escorted passengers from the ship to an airport on the island of Tenerife under close supervision and following health checks.
The US citizen who tested positive ‘did not show symptoms when they were in Cape Verde’, where the MV Hondius stopped before reaching the Canary Islands, the ministry said.
‘However, the US authorities have decided to treat the case as positive. For that reason, they requested a separate evacuation, which was carried out in a separate boat.’
A French woman who tested positive for the virus ‘started to feel unwell during the flight and not while she was on the ship’. Her health worsened in the hospital overnight, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Monday.
She was among five French passengers repatriated on Sunday. She developed symptoms on the flight to Paris, Rist told public broadcaster France-Inter.
The WHO has recommended close monitoring of the former passengers, and many countries quarantined them.
Passengers are sprayed with disinfectant by Spanish government officials before boarding a plane after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at Tenerife airport on Sunday
American passengers from the cruise ship, MV Hondius that was stricken with hantavirus, arrived in Omaha, Nebraska after flying from Tenerife, Spain on Monday
Passengers from the ship began flying home aboard military and government planes Sunday after the MV Hondius anchored in the Canary Islands.
Personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks escorted the travelers from ship to shore in Tenerife, an effort that was continuing Monday.
It is the first-ever case of a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, according to Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness.
Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases.
Symptoms – which can include fever, chills and muscle aches – usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday that the general public should not be worried about the outbreak.
‘This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn´t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic.’
WHO is recommending that passengers’ home countries ‘have active monitoring and follow-up, which means daily health checks, either at home or in a specialized facility,’ said Kerkhove, the organization’s top epidemiologist.
American citizens (Dressed in blue) are evacuated in a small boat from the MV Hondius after docking in the Granadilla Port on May 10, 2026 in Tenerife
Numerous countries have said their people will be quarantined or hospitalized for observation.
Australia is sending a plane, expected to arrive Monday, to evacuate its people and those from nearby countries, such as New Zealand, and unspecified Asian countries, said Spanish Health Minister Mónica García, who added that the evacuation flight was expected to be the last to leave Tenerife.
Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said a second Dutch flight Monday would bring back more passengers from the Netherlands and other nations.
Berendsen said the evacuation operation ‘is based on concern for the passengers. But also concern for public health, and we try to do that in the best way.’
