90-Second Read: As Hantavirus outbreak unfolds, the CDC is missing in action, experts say. 'I’m very sorry to say that we are not prepared'

But experts say the situation has not spiraled because, unlike COVID-19 or measles or the flu, Hantavirus does not spread easily. Hantavirus was first identified as a cause of sickness of one of the cases on May 2. The World Health Organization swung into action and by Monday was calling it an outbreak. The CDC acted as a mainstay of any international investigation, providing staff and expertise to help unravel any outbreak mystery, develop ways to control it and communicate to the public what they should know and how they should worry.

Kennedy Jr., said he was working to "restore the CDC's focus on infectious disease, invest in innovation, and rebuild trust through integrity and transparency." The CDC has not been completely silent on Hantavirus. In interviews this week, some experts made a comparison with a 2020 incident involving the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship docked in Japan that became the setting of one of the first large COVID-19 outbreaks outside of China. Some aspects of the international response to the Diamond Princess were criticized, and it did not halt the outbreak or stop COVID-19's spread across the world. Early last month, a 70-year-old Dutch man developed a feverish illness on a cruise ship traveling from Argentina to Antarctica and some islands in the South Atlantic.

More people became sick, including the man's wife and a German woman, who both died. It made the risk assessment that has told people the outbreak is not a pandemic threat. The administration has laid off thousands of CDC scientists and public health professionals, including members of the agency's ship sanitation program. But some experts say it was not for the CDC's lack of trying.

Some details emerged not through public statements but through disclosures from anonymous sources, including news Friday that the CDC was sending a team to Spain's Canary Islands to meet the Americans onboard. On Friday evening, health officials issued an updated statement, confirming the deployment of a team to the Canary Islands. WHO officials said the CDC has been sharing technical information.