The two people were not passengers on the cruise ship and officials say the potential exposure happened during air travel abroad. Officials say they traveled on the same plane with the person who was on the ship.
Three people have died from the outbreak tied to the ship.
The New Jersey Department of Health was notified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the potential exposure and they say they are monitoring the residents as a precaution.
Neither individual is currently reported to have symptoms suggestive of hantavirus.
"They are showing no symptoms at this time that suggest they might be infected with this virus," said New Jersey Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington.
Health officials say the risk to the general public in New Jersey remains very low.
NJ Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington speaks on 2 hantavirus exposures:
NJ Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington speaks on 2 hantavirus exposures
No current cases have been identified in the state and there is no history of a confirmed hantavirus case reported in New Jersey.
Meanwhile in New York City, the health department sent an advisory to doctors in the city on Friday, alerting them to be aware of the hantavirus outbreak. They said doctors should ask patients about any potential links with the cruise ship if they are showing signs of an illness that may be hantavirus.
There are no New York City residents that are sick, nor are there residents who have been exposed. The risk remains "extremely low," the health department said.
Of the 140 passengers onboard the cruise ship, 18 are Americans.
A CDC team will escort the Americans onto a charter flight to the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska. It's the same facility used to quarantine COVID patients in early days of the pandemic.
Health officials in several countries are trying to identify and follow people who may have been exposed to hantavirus on the cruise ship.
In addition to contact tracing, they are trying to learn more about the virus as fast as they can. Questions include whether it has mutated and how exactly it spreads. Hantaviruses usually spread when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings.
While human cases are rare, small outbreaks have been documented around the world. And the Andes virus implicated in the outbreak unfolding on a cruise ship now in the Atlantic Ocean may be able to spread between people in rare cases.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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