Quarantined cruise ship passengers from New York State speak out amid hantavirus outbreak
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Three of the 18 American passengers who were evacuated from a cruise ship amid a hantavirus outbreak are connected to New York State, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Among them is Jake Rosmarin, 29, who is from Orange County and now resides in Boston. Rosmarin has been quarantining at the University of Nebraska and posted to social media about his journey.
"The repatriation flight was smooth, and I safely made it to the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha. It's been a very long few days, but hopefully I can start giving more updates again soon. A special thank you as well to University of Nebraska Medical Center and the city of Omaha for welcoming us and helping ensure we are safe and cared for," Rosmarin said on Instagram.
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, who was listed in the ship residency as being from NYC, is an oncologist who lives in Bend, Oregon.
He told ABC News that he essentially took over the medical response after the ship's doctor contracted hantavirus.
"It just kind of escalated to within 24 hours after I stepped in," Dr. Kornfeld said. "One of the patients died and the other two, the physician and one of the other staff members, were getting progressively sicker, and then the first news of hantavirus came out."
The third passenger with a connection to New York State is 76-year-old Mary Roefs from Sidney, a village in Delaware County.
On Monday, 16 of the American cruise ship passengers arrived at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. 15 are in the quarantine unit and one person is in the biocontainment unit, officials said.
Two other American cruise ship passengers were flown to Atlanta "for further assessment and care," officials said.
"I believe that there's a 42-day monitoring period, and they can decide whether they want to do that in Nebraska or come back and make other accommodations," Hochul said.
Hochul said the state is monitoring the situation, but "it's transmitted very differently than the coronavirus, there's no panic, no concern."
The governor said she is still putting together a plan to be proactive.
"This is New York, it's a large, densely populated state and city, and I just need to do the responsible thing and prepare," Hochul said.
The news comes days after officials in New Jersey announced that they are monitoring two Garden State residents after they were potentially exposed to a person infected with hantavirus after the person departed the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Those 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.
The Andes strain of the hantavirus can spread human to human and there is no vaccine nor a cure.
Three people have died from the outbreak tied to the ship.
The CDC maintains that the risk to the general public is low.
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