Hantavirus quarantine ends for Americans held for six weeks in Nebraska

Nebraska Medicine's Davis Global Center is seen on 10 May 2026 in Omaha, Nebraska, where US passengers from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship were quarantined. Photograph: Rebecca S Gratz/AP View image in fullscreen Nebraska Medicine's Davis Global Center is seen on 10 May 2026 in Omaha, Nebraska, where US passengers from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship were quarantined. Photograph: Rebecca S Gratz/AP Hantavirus quarantine ends for Americans held for six weeks in Nebraska The US health department said the enforced 42-day quarantine was necessary to protect the public Eight Americans quarantined for six weeks in Nebraska after they were exposed to a deadly hantavirus outbreak were released on Monday, including one who accused the government of holding her against her will . The US health and human services department (HHS) confirmed that it had ended the required isolation for the group, who were among dozens evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship in the Canary Islands early in May. Three people died and 13 cases of the rare Andes strain of hantavirus were identified on the Dutch-flagged vessel, leading to 18 Americans originally transferring to the national quarantine unit in Omaha. In a statement to the Associated Press, an HHS spokesperson said the enforced 42-day quarantine of the final eight passengers – which some critics have called “authoritarian” and “unconstitutional” – was necessary for the public good. “Through close collaboration among federal, state, and local partners, HHS helped protect the American people, contain potential risks, and bring this response effort to a successful conclusion,” the spokesperson, Emily Hilliard, said in an email. However, one passenger, Angela Perryman, said she was detained against her wishes. Speaking to the AP on Monday, she said the remaining eight were told on Sunday lunchtime that the quarantine period had ended and they were free to leave the University of Nebraska medical center. She said she insisted on a flight to her Florida home that night, which she said was paid for by the government, while most of the others chose to stay overnight and fly out on Monday. “We were locked in our rooms until 1.55pm,” she said. “And at two o’clock, ‘OK, well, everybody walk out and go home.’” Health law experts told the Guardian that Perryman’s enforced detention, the result of a controversial quarantine order deemed unnecessary even by some health officials, set a dangerous precedent. It followed HHS secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr’s decision, to overrule medical advice by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that those exposed should self-quarantine at home. “Cavalierly detaining somebody for no good reason, no crime and no significant public risk” is “arbitrary, it’s capricious and it’s unjust,” said Lawrence Gostin, health law professor at the Georgetown University law center. James Hodge, professor and director of the public health law and policy center at Arizona State Univers