A cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak led federal officials to fly 18 Americans back to the U.S. and place them at a National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska under stated voluntary conditions. Officials avoided using the term “quarantine,” and one passenger planned to leave Omaha and monitor herself in Florida. On May 18, when she and another passenger tried to leave, they received a legal order requiring them to remain until the end of the month. The passenger described the situation as detention against her will and said she did not understand why she could not monitor her health at home. Federal officials did not respond to questions, and the CDC has acknowledged only two mandatory quarantine orders since COVID began.
"Angela Perryman says she trusted federal officials when they flew her and 17 other Americans back to the U.S. after the MV Hondius cruise ship was hit by the deadly hantavirus outbreak. Their stay at the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska was voluntary, officials publicly stated. In fact, Trump administration officials, clearly sensitive to the post-pandemic backlash against lockdowns and mandates, took pains to avoid even using the word "quarantine." So Perryman says she worked out a plan to leave Omaha and monitor herself for the virus in Florida."
"But when she and at least one other passenger tried to leave, they were handed a legal order May 18 requiring them to stay until the end of the month, she says. "I am angry. I feel betrayed," says Perryman, who's 47 and mostly lives in Ecuador. "I'm being imprisoned. It's a nice prison. But this is a prison. Let's be clear: I am being detained against my will." Federal officials did not respond to NPR's questions about Perryman."
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has only publicly acknowledged two mandatory quarantine orders and has not named those people. Perryman shared the documents she's received from the government with NPR. It's the first time the federal government has issued a mandatory quarantine order since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and only the second time in about a half century. Public health experts say the country could face similar situations with other outbreaks, including the big Ebola crisis underway right now largely in the Democratic Republic of Congo."
""Extremely stressful time" Perryman says she understands the hantavirus is a serious threat. But she doesn't understand why she can't take her own temperature every day and be on the lookout for any signs she's getting sick at home, just like almost two dozen other passengers who had been on the ship and returned home. She says she only had passing contact with one passenger who got sic"
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