Laurel Bristow

We do have one individual who was taken to the biocontainment unit early, early this morning.

And we assessed that individual.

They are doing well.

And I'm Cassidy Hubbard, host and reporter for nearly 20 years, covering the biggest names and stories in sports and mom.

My name is Laurel Bristow, and I am an infectious disease researcher.

And now I work for the Emory Rollins School of Public Health and Communications and have a weekly radio show and podcast show all about public health called Health Wanted.

So all of the Americans who were on the cruise ship who were waiting to see their fate are now in a containment facility in Nebraska that is run by the University of Nebraska.

It's the only government-funded facility that can handle people who have been exposed to potentially, you know, novel or pathogenic viruses that have emerged.

And so they are there to get monitoring and assessment from a care team.

And then...

Hopefully, they won't stay there for too long.

They're going to make a decision in conjunction with their care team about where they're next going to spend the 42-day quarantine that is being recommended, but they are not being forced to stay in that facility, though I think there's a possibility that some might choose to if they want to.

So, hantavirus is actually a family of about 40 different kinds of viruses, and they are primarily spread by rodents coming into contact with the infected feces, urine, or saliva of rodents who are carriers.

And just to be clear, not all rodents are carriers of hantavirus.

You know, people I've seen have been really scared about saying New York is full of rats.

Yeah.

Not every kind of rodent carries hantavirus.

In the U.S., it's primarily deer mice, and they are usually found in the southwest of the America.

That's where we see our hantavirus cases.

What's unique about this is that the Andes kind of species of hantavirus is the only one that we have seen be able to transmit person to person.