90-Second Read: 3 people in Maryland and Virginia are being monitored for Hantavirus

Maryland and Virginia officials monitor 3 people after a deadly Hondius cruise ship Hantavirus outbreak and a flight exposure. Three people in Maryland and Virginia are being monitored for Hantavirus for 42 days after being exposed. Hantavirus was last identified in Maryland in 2019, and no Andes virus infections have ever been reported in the state, the health department said.

Maryland health officials are monitoring two people who may have been exposed when they took a flight abroad that briefly included an infected passenger from the Hondius ship. Local health officials are monitoring the former ship passenger. Health officials say everyone will be tracked and monitored for 42 days, which is the virus's incubation period.

State and local health departments will do the monitoring, Guest said. In a press briefing Monday, CDC Head of Hantavirus Response David Fitter said that the strain of Hantavirus identified on the cruise ship, the Andes virus, was very low risk of becoming a wider public health emergency because it typically spreads through very close contact. Health officials say that individual is doing well and not exhibiting any symptoms, but fewer than five other Virginians may have been exposed.