Woman says she’s being held against her will after cruise ship hantavirus scare
An American woman who may have been exposed to hantavirus on board the MV Hondius cruise ship is now being forced to quarantine at a facility in Omaha, Nebraska.
Angela Perryman, 47, anticipated having to stay at the National Quarantine Unit for a short time after arriving last week, but on Monday she was served with a federal order to remain quarantined for at least two more weeks, she shared with The New York Times.
The order mandates that Perryman remains in the facility until May 31, which would be a total of 21 days after her arrival. Officials told her that any attempts to leave could result in law enforcement involvement, she said.
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"They won’t let us isolate at home," Perryman, who lives in Ecuador but has a home in South Florida, told the news outlet. "We’re being kept in a secured facility and threatened if we try to leave."
The woman shared that she received a negative hantavirus test result and is not experiencing symptoms. However, she said she did briefly speak with a passenger who later died from the disease.
The federal order, which the passenger shared with the Times, states that it could "constitute a probable source of infection to other people" if Perryman were to leave the facility to travel to another state.
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After receiving a medical review within 72 hours, Perryman was told she can appeal the order. She told the Times that she plans to take legal action.
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The quarantine unit includes 20 single-occupancy rooms with negative air pressure systems and en suite bathroom facilities, along with exercise equipment and Wi-Fi connectivity, according to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Global Center for Health Security website.
The quarantine order — issued under federal public health authority — was reportedly approved by Jay Bhattacharya, the acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the CDC requesting comment.
Including Perryman, a total of 18 American passengers from the MV Hondius have been monitored at the quarantine unit since last week.
Seven other passengers who left the ship and returned home prior to the outbreak’s discovery are being monitored by their state and local health departments, per the CDC.
"The reason they’re watching these passengers so carefully is that the incubation period can be very long — up to six weeks — and when symptoms hit, patients can deteriorate very rapidly," Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said during a recent episode of "The Faulkner Focus."
"This is not something that spreads easily like COVID, but because the Andes strain has rare person-to-person transmission, public health officials are being extremely cautious," he added.
At least three people linked to the outbreak aboard the ship have died, while additional passengers have been sickened, according to the World Health Organization.
The federal government last imposed a large-scale quarantine order in January 2020, when nearly 200 Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. They were required to remain in isolation for two weeks at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, per the CDC.
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"Typically, we don’t hold people against their will unless there is no alternative," Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the pandemic center at Brown University’s School of Public Health, told The Times.