Is hantavirus the next pandemic? Trump says we ‘hope’ not — let’s do more! 

President Trump responded to questions from reporters about the hantavirus outbreak, offering what might have struck some people as not entirely reassuring sentiments. 

“It’s very much, we hope, under control. It should be fine. We hope.” And then asked whether it would spread, “I hope not.”  

Well, I, for one, would like to do more than just hope it will be fine, which is why I was initially quite alarmed to read news reports suggesting that the American passengers of the Dutch cruise ship where the outbreak occurred were being brought back inside our country. Personally, I’d prefer to quarantine everybody until we could be certain that they did not have the virus.  

Unfortunately, this strain of hantavirus has a very long asymptomatic incubation period. Now, the victim is apparently not contagious during that time period, though this strain of hantavirus can spread via human-to-human contact, though contact from rats is the far more likely method of infection.  

The U.S. government has offered to quarantine the Americans at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and 16 American passengers have availed themselves of that opportunity. But their stay is not mandatory, and the passengers may opt to return home and self-monitor, even before they have cleared the infection window.  

Call me crazy, but that seems a little too cavalier!  

I don’t think people who have been exposed to an extremely deadly virus should necessarily be deciding that for themselves. And yes, I understand the risk of a pandemic here is extremely low, but I’d much rather inconvenience a small number of people right now, instead of........

© The Hill