Why hantavirus is not like COVID, according to infectious disease experts

Key Points:

• The hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship, involving at least 10 cases and three deaths, is considered low risk to the public and differs significantly from COVID-19, according to WHO officials and infectious disease experts.
• Unlike COVID-19, hantavirus spreads through prolonged close contact and bodily fluid exposure, not airborne transmission, making it much less contagious and limiting its spread primarily to confined settings.
• The Andes virus strain involved is rare, primarily rodent-borne, and known to spread from person to person only under extended contact, with a longer incubation period of two to six weeks, which allows more time for containment efforts.
• Health authorities, including the CDC and HHS, emphasize that the risk to the general public remains very low, with American passengers from the cruise being monitored in specialized medical facilities as they approach the end of the incubation period.
• Experts liken the hantavirus outbreak to a "smoldering wet log" rather than a "wildfire," highlighting that it does not have the rapid, widespread transmissibility seen with COVID-19, reducing concerns about a pandemic scenario.