90-Second Read: Where should Hantavirus cruise ship passengers quarantine? Experts are divided

Eleven cases of Hantavirus are reported among the nearly 150 passengers. One of the quarantined people in Atlanta has had mild symptoms but tested negative for Hantavirus. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford Medicine, said having passengers quarantine at home "opens up unnecessary risks." "What happens if they go home to quarantine and they start to get sick? Eighteen Americans are now in quarantine in two federal centers after having returned home from the MV Hondius cruise ship. If passengers are allowed to leave the federal quarantine centers and stay home instead, they would need to be symptom-free.

Chan School of Public Health, said a strict quarantine is a "small price to pay" to prevent more cases and potential deaths. If a physical interaction with another person is necessary, passengers from the ship should wear N95 respirators. It's possible that quarantine guidance for the 18 passengers could change in the coming days. Sixteen of the 18 Americans are at the National Quarantine Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Two are in a quarantine facility at Emory University in Atlanta.

How long they'll stay in quarantine or where isn't clear yet. The Andes strain is the only Hantavirus that can spread from person to person. While there are some reports of people's catching it through casual contact, most scientists that say it doesn't spread easily and that there's no clear proof that people are contagious before they have symptoms. This is both a public health and humanitarian response." The passengers "were in international waters and living in a nightmare for more than a month. Brendan Jackson, acting director of the high-consequence pathogens and pathology division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a media briefing Monday.

None of the other passengers in Omaha or Atlanta have tested positive. I'm happy to be in a place where I know we are well cared for and, if anything happens, we have the medical attention that we need. It can take up to 42 days after exposure to the virus for symptoms to appear. They'd also need to check in with local health officials regularly, Jackson said. Having people go back home doesn't seem to make very much sense." World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has already acknowledged that additional cases could occur, given the virus' long incubation period.