Of the 147 passengers and crew members on board the MV Hondius cruise ship, approximately 11 people have been confirmed infected with the Andes strain of the Hantavirus, with 3 people dead. Luckily, authorities all over the world have been rushing to develop safety protocols and to monitor people who were formerly on board.
One frustrating situation, though, is that
the U.S. government is refusing to require that passengers quarantine themselves after returning to U.S. soil.
Why is the U.S. playing fast and loose with this? Sign the petition to demand the U.S. change this plan, and require a quarantine for all American passengers and crew members!Reassuringly, medical experts have confirmed that the Hantavirus is not the same thing as COVID, and seems unlikely to spread as quickly. This is great news. What is not great news, though, is that the virus can incubate for anywhere between
1 to 8 weeks before an exposed person develops symptoms.
That's why it's imperative to keep people who might have been exposed to the virus - namely, the passengers and crew - isolated from the general public for that full period of time. We should not be taking chances with this. That's why
the World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending that people leaving the cruise ship be isolated for 42 days.Yet the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is merely "encouraging" American passengers to self-quarantine. It plans to monitor 41 of the former passengers for 42 days, but during that time, they are technically free to mingle with the general public as much as they want. That's simply not good enough for the public's safety and well-being.
It's great news that Hantavirus is unlikely to become the next COVID. But we need to keep it that way - and one of the best ways to keep us all safe is to quarantine the former passengers and crew from the MV Hondius ship until the incubation period has passed.
Sign the petition to demand the U.S. government be extra careful and extra safe with public health by requiring full quarantines of MV Hondius passengers!