US prepares evacuation flight for Americans trapped on deadly hantavirus ship as global alarm grows

WASHINGTON, DC: The US is getting ready to organize an evacuation flight for Americans stuck on the MV Hondius cruise ship after a hantavirus outbreak that’s killed people in several countries and sparked worldwide alarm.

This urgent mission to bring people home kicks off while health officials scramble to get the outbreak under control. The virus in question is the Andes strain, which is scary because it's one of the rare hantavirus types that can actually spread from person to person.

US arranging emergency return flight as passengers remain quarantined at sea

According to US officials, 17 Americans still aboard the MV Hondius will be flown back to the United States on a special medical repatriation flight once the ship reaches Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

Evacuations start sometime between Sunday and Monday, once the MV Hondius docks in Tenerife and the Spanish government steps in.

Passengers will get tested for hantavirus and then leave the ship in groups, organized by their home country. After that, they’ll board small boats, just five people at a time, to reach the shore and then head to the airport for their flight.

The State Department told CBS News that the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services are arranging the chartered plane.

On Friday, the CDC said they’ll handle their own risk assessment for American passengers to figure out how closely everyone needs to be monitored.

The Americans will land at the Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, before going to the University of Nebraska Medical Center's new state-of-the-art biocontainment unit.

The CDC will also be sending a team to the university for support. 

All of the travelers will be quarantined on their own for the time being, according to Michael Wadman, medical director of the university's National Quarantine Unit. 

Six Americans had already disembarked before

Meanwhile, at least six Americans who previously disembarked from the cruise ship in Saint Helena have already returned to states including California, Texas, Virginia, Georgia and Arizona, where local health departments are monitoring them for symptoms.

While talking about the quarantine facility in Nebraska, Wadman said, “Each individual will have their own room,” Wadman said, while adding that there is no standard quarantine period set for those being brought in. 

“Each of the rooms looks very much like a hotel room with the addition of availability of WiFi, exercise equipment. If the quarantine is prolonged, those would be important in terms of making sure they're comfortable.”

“We are prepared for situations exactly like this,” Dr Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said in a statement.

The unit opened in 2019, funded by a $20 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, according to ABC News.

This biocontainment and quarantine unit in Omaha has already treated Ebola cases and some of the earliest COVID-19 patients.

Nebraska Medicine is one of only a few hospitals in the country set up to care for people with extremely dangerous infectious diseases.

President Donald Trump addressed the situation briefly this week, saying officials hoped the outbreak was “under control” and promising a full update from federal agencies.

Authorities across Europe, Africa, and the Americas are now tracking passengers who left the ship earlier in the voyage as fears continue growing over whether the isolated outbreak could spread further before all potentially exposed travelers are identified.