90-Second Read: American who was on the Hantavirus cruise ship says isolation center is like ‘prison’

Instead, he and several others are being kept at a facility in Omaha for 42 days, the full incubation period for Hantavirus. The Hondius arrived back in the Netherlands on Monday after an 8,500-mile journey from southern Argentina, during which up to 11 people contracted the Andes strain of Hantavirus, which can be transmitted between people. The cruise took almost 150 people on a sightseeing trip to some of the world's most remote places, but instead became the center of global attention after a Dutch passenger died on board April 11. The 18 Americans on board were flown back to the United States, eventually all ending up at the National Quarantine Unit, a specialized facility in Omaha.

The New York man said he was contacted by an official from the New York Health Department upon his arrival last week to ask how they could assist him in quarantining at home. But then, on Sunday, he says CDC staff told all 18 Americans on a Zoom call that, in fact, they could not leave. He says passengers were told that if they tried to leave, they'd receive a formal quarantine order. That is a great place for them to be able to do this, but also as we continue to coordinate the best monitoring for them.

The man said he was frustrated with "the bad faith way that they've handled this from the beginning," and stressed that he and others understood the need to quarantine and would comply with any order; they just want to do so at home. The man says he requested to see the legal documents prohibiting him from leaving and has since received two federal quarantine orders, reviewed by NBC News. He and others, he says, became hopeful when health officials said they could strictly isolate at home. What we don't understand is why they suddenly changed their minds and told us that we can't follow the CDC guidelines and complete the quarantines at home.