CDC team to meet Americans on hantavirus-stricken ship as bad weather threatens landing

By Adam Cancryn, Brenda Goodman, Jennifer Hansler, Deidre McPhillips, Billy Stockwell, CNN

(CNN) — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is dispatching staffers to meet with American passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship in the Canary Islands as Spanish authorities warn of approaching bad weather.

While health authorities across several countries race to contain the outbreak – which the World Health Organization says has led to six confirmed cases and two probable cases of the Andes virus so far – concern is shifting to what will happen when the MV Hondius docks in Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands.

The ship is expected to arrive at Tenerife’s port of Granadilla in the early hours of Sunday, May 10, its operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said Friday. The company cautioned that “this is subject to change.”

Passengers will probably need to disembark the ship before Tuesday amid worsening coastal weather conditions, according to a regional official.

Oceanwide Expeditions said “preparations regarding our point of arrival, quarantine and screening procedures for all guests, and the onward travel plans for all guests and affected crew are being led by organizations from a number of countries,” including WHO.

CDC epidemiologists and medical professionals will meet the ship when it arrives at the Spanish archipelago, where they’ll conduct a risk assessment for each American passenger, the agency said Friday. One source familiar with the matter told CNN that the Americans will be brought back aboard a charter aircraft with a biocontainment unit, similar to those used during Covid-19 evacuations.

Once passengers are allowed to leave the boat in the Canary Islands, 14 Spanish passengers will be transported to a military hospital after being examined, while the other remaining passengers will be repatriated, according to Spain’s health minister, Mónica García.

At the military hospital, passengers will remain in individual rooms, will not be allowed visitors and will be given a PCR test upon arrival and another after seven days, Spain’s Ministry of Health said Friday.

“In addition, active monitoring will be carried out, which includes recording their temperature twice a day to promptly detect any compatible symptoms,” the ministry said in a statement.

The boat’s arrival has caused tensions in Spain, with Fernando Clavijo, the leader of the Canary Islands, saying earlier in the week that he was opposed to the ship docking there.

On Friday, port workers in Tenerife held protests, voicing their concerns about a lack of communication about the potential risks. “The problem is not working at the harbor itself; the problem is for them (the passengers) to have contact with people living here on the island,” a port worker told Reuters.

Worsening weather

Speaking to the challenges ahead of the disembarkation, Manuel Domínguez, vice president of the regional government of the Canary Islands, said, “we have been warned that from Tuesday, the weather is going to change, and it is going to get worse.”

After Tuesday, “both sea conditions and wind will change and will reduce or make it impossible for disembarkation to occur,” he said Friday after a meeting between the regional government and a delegation from the Netherlands.

Weather conditions are expected to be pleasant in Tenerife this weekend but will worsen early next week with choppier waves and stronger gusts of wind, according to CNN’s Weather Team.

In Friday’s meeting, the regional government of the Canary Islands also suggested to the Dutch delegation that the ship should continue to the Netherlands after the disembarkation of passengers, with the same crew, Domínguez said.

Domínguez added that disinfection should be carried out in the Netherlands.

US passengers to head to Nebraska

Another CDC team has been dispatched to meet returning American passengers in Nebraska, the agency said. Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center said they’ve been asked to receive and monitor US citizens from the MV Hondius at the National Quarantine Unit, a federally funded quarantine facility.

There are an estimated 17 Americans on board the cruise ship, according to Oceanwide Expeditions. Nebraska Medicine said they are all well and have no symptoms of illness.

“We are prepared for situations exactly like this,” Dr. Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said in a statement. “Our teams have trained for decades alongside federal and state partners to make sure we can safely provide care while protecting our staff and the broader community.”

The US State Department is arranging the repatriation flight in coordination with the CDC, the US Department of Health and Human Services and the government of Spain, a State Department spokesperson confirmed.

The department is “in direct communication with Americans on board and are prepared to provide consular assistance as soon as the ship arrives in Tenerife, Spain,” the State Department spokesperson said.

The Trump administration was expected to publicly detail its plan as early as Friday, one of the people familiar with the matter said, though they cautioned that the timing remained fluid.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

President Donald Trump on Thursday indicated that the administration would soon release more information on its work to contain the disease, telling reporters that it is “very much, we hope, under control.”

Five states — Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas and Virginia — are already monitoring seven passengers who previously disembarked from the ship. Health officials told CNN that none is experiencing symptoms. New Jersey also said it is monitoring two people who were potentially exposed to a person infected with hantavirus after departing MV Hondius. They are not experiencing hantavirus symptoms.

The outbreak was first reported to the World Health Organization on May 2 and remains a low risk to the general public, WHO says.

Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – have died since the vessel departed Argentina last month, while others have been evacuated from the ship for medical treatment.

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CNN’s Billy Stockwell, Pau Mosquera, Brandon Miller, Sol Amaya and Vasco Cotovio in Tenerife contributed reporting.