90-Second Read: 2 people with possible Hantavirus exposures are in CA. Officials say don’t panic

California health officials said the risk to the public is low after two people who may have been exposed to Hantavirus returned home. Two Californians who may have been exposed to the Hantavirus are back in the state, but they're both asymptomatic, and health officials are urging residents not to panic. Although Hantavirus does not usually spread between people, public officials are being cautious in part because of the seriousness of the disease. In all, four California residents were in contact with people infected on the cruise ship MV Hondius, including one Sacramento County resident, California Department of Public Health Director Erica Pan said in a news conference Monday. As a result, health officials are closely monitoring the two residents currently in the state.

Pan said that in the rare cases where Hantavirus has spread between humans, it's usually spread through very close contact. Although California facilities have not had direct experience with Andes Hantavirus before, there have previously been a handful cases in the state of a different strain of Hantavirus, Pan said. In South America, health officials have been dealing with Hantavirus for "decades. The resident is under the supervision of the Sacramento County Public Health officials and is following temperature check and isolation protocols, Pan said. The Santa Clara County resident is also under the supervision of local public health officials and following the same guidelines as the resident near Sacramento.

But Pan stressed that it's usually only spread from contact with rodents, that human-to-human transmission of the virus is very rare, and that the risk to the public remains low. Healthcare providers have also been known to catch Hantavirus from another person, she said -- but that also typically happens with close exposure to bodily fluids and, she said, probably improper personal protective equipment. Unlike COVID in 2020, public health officials and doctors can rely on extensive existing research in combatting and controlling the spread of this illness. Hantavirus is also less contagious than COVID, and, unlike COVID, does not appear to spread before symptoms materialize. We only have two individuals in our entire state who are actually here, who have no symptoms and are being monitored daily by their.

Two of the four California residents who may have been exposed are at a federal facility in Nebraska and have shown no symptoms; both of those people were passengers on the cruise. The potential incubation period for Hantavirus is 42 days, Pan said. Out of an "abundance of caution," Pan said, they are isolating at home, avoiding non-essential contact with the outside world, and are not interacting with people without masks, handwashing and proper ventilation. The people who catch it from another person usually catch it from a family member or intimate partner, often via exposure to bodily fluids, which is unlikely via contact with a stranger. She said California has the types of facilities necessary to treat people who become extremely ill, and plans are in place should the.