90-Second Read: Hantavirus: Are we ready for another pandemic?

Two weeks ago, news broke that three people aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius had died of suspected Hantavirus, a respiratory disease with no cure or vaccine. But Trump also hoped it would be fine in February 2020, when passengers on another ship, the Diamond Princess, started dying from Covid-19. But "this likely isn't the opening scene for a bigger, scarier movie." The human-transmissible strain of Hantavirus is not very infectious, requiring prolonged contact with someone already suffering symptoms.

But before the pathogen was identified, some 30 passengers had disembarked and flown home to 12 countries, potentially seeding the planet with a virus that kills 38% of its victims. But at least eight other Hondius -linked infections have been confirmed, and 18 Americans are being monitored, two at containment facilities in Atlanta-one of those passengers is symptomatic-and 16 in Nebraska. Standard public health measures have contained previous outbreaks, the worst being a 2018 outbreak in Epuyén, Argentina, in which 11 died.

These "super-spreader" events suggest the virus could spark a pandemic. It took a week after WHO formally confirmed the Hantavirus infections for the administration to hold its first briefing, and a month after the first death to set up a CDC task force. The disease does not have a cure No one should panic, but this is "certainly a worrying chain of events," said Tara C.