The Inside Story of the Hantavirus Outbreak

"The World Health Organization "assesses the public health risk as low," and the rare Andes strain of hantavirus that has killed three people and sickened several others appears to be far less easily transmitted than COVID. Still, as I've immersed myself ever deeper in the drama aboard the Hondius-passengers whose conditions deteriorated within twenty-four hours, people dying in isolation far from home, health officials in hazmat suits-I've felt a familiar dread, that sensation from the COVID era of living in the maws of history."

"The most hopeful parts of our conversations struck another COVID-era note, though a far happier one. The scientist told me repeatedly of escaping to the ship's deck and surrounding himself with the openness of the ocean, the beauty of volcanic islands, the whales, the dolphins, the flying fish, and, above all, the seabirds. I reached out to him to better understand a deadly virus, but I ended up learning so much about endanger"

A hantavirus outbreak on the M.V. Hondius initially received little attention amid other global concerns. After repeated conversations with a passenger who was aboard, unease increased as symptoms worsened within twenty-four hours, people died in isolation far from home, and health officials responded in hazmat suits. The World Health Organization assessed the public health risk as low, and the Andes strain appeared less easily transmitted than COVID, yet the experience evoked familiar COVID-era dread. A scientist described feeling swept into events beyond personal control. During about forty days of illness and enforced solitude, hope came from escaping to the ship’s deck and surrounding oneself with the ocean’s openness, volcanic islands, whales, dolphins, flying fish, and seabirds.

Read at The New Yorker