90-Second Read: These States Are Watching for Potential Hantavirus Cases

State health officials have contacted these people and have advised them to quarantine as best they can, with home monitoring and daily symptom and fever checks. According to CDC's interim guidance, they are all high risk, as they were either on the ship as of April 6, when the first patient died, or were seated close to the symptomatic passenger on the plane. Unfortunately, the quarantine period is 42 days, which is thought to be the upper limit of the incubation period for the Andes virus, the strain of Hantavirus involved in the outbreak. Helena to Johannesburg as the widow of the first cruise ship passenger who died. There are also 18 passengers from the ship who were recently repatriated ; 16 of them are at the University of Nebraska.

That person was an oncologist who helped manage sick passengers on board after the ship's doctor became sick. The other 15 passengers are in Nebraska's quarantine unit, where they will be assessed, and eventually they will have the choice about where to quarantine -- either at the facility or at home, if it's determined that can be done safely. Here's where patients are being monitored: California: one passenger; one air travel Nebraska: 16 passengers; one tested positive They've been asked to delay nonessential medical care, skip travel plans, and work from home. He is now in the facility's biocontainment unit, where he remains asymptomatic.

This includes seven Americans who disembarked the ship on the remote island of St. It also includes at least nine Americans who were on the same plane from St. That woman was symptomatic during the flight, and died not long after landing in South Africa. Of the 16 people who remain in Nebraska, one tested positive for the virus.

That can seem like a long time to spend in a quarantine facility, but it does guarantee access to the nation's top experts in outbreak response and treatment.