# More cruise ship passengers leave Omaha quarantine after hantavirus outbreak  
**Published:** 2026-06-18T18:09:44.000Z  
**Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/2-more-cruise-ship-passengers-leave-omaha-quarantine-after-deadly-hantavirus-outbreak/)  
**AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001)  
**Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/more-cruise-ship-passengers-leave-omaha-quarantine-after-hantavirus-outbreak

Two more passengers from a cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have left the University of Nebraska Medical Center's National Quarantine Unit after more than five weeks of monitoring, according to an update from UNMC on Thursday, reported by the [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/2-more-cruise-ship-passengers-leave-omaha-quarantine-after-deadly-hantavirus-outbreak/).

The departures bring the total number of passengers who have left the federal quarantine facility to 10 out of the original 18 who arrived in Omaha on May 11 following evacuation from the MV Hondius. Six passengers remain at the National Quarantine Unit for continued monitoring.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had requested that all passengers remain quarantined through May 31. However, because [symptoms of hantavirus can take up to 42 days to appear](https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/about/andesvirus.html), UNMC strongly encouraged all passengers to complete the longer monitoring period extending through June 21.

Those who departed did not travel commercially, with appropriate biocontainment measures in place during transport. The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response coordinated travel in conjunction with each passenger's local health department.

Passengers were required to continue self-monitoring under the jurisdiction of their home state health departments, with the CDC coordinating requirements for continued at-home surveillance. [The World Health Organization reported a total of 13 confirmed cases, including three deaths, linked to the Andes hantavirus strain outbreak](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON604) aboard the Dutch cruise ship.

[The National Quarantine Unit is the only federally funded quarantine facility of its kind in the United States](https://www.unmc.edu/newsroom/2026/05/10/nebraska-medicine-unmc-asked-to-monitor-u-s-citizens-from-cruise-ship-hantavirus-outbreak/), specifically designed to safely house and monitor people exposed to high-consequence infectious diseases. The facility is housed within the Davis Global Center at UNMC's Omaha campus.

## Sources

- [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/2-more-cruise-ship-passengers-leave-omaha-quarantine-after-deadly-hantavirus-outbreak/)
- [CDC information on Andes virus symptoms and incubation period](https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/about/andesvirus.html)
- [World Health Organization disease outbreak news on hantavirus](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON604)
- [UNMC newsroom on National Quarantine Unit and hantavirus monitoring](https://www.unmc.edu/newsroom/2026/05/10/nebraska-medicine-unmc-asked-to-monitor-u-s-citizens-from-cruise-ship-hantavirus-outbreak/)

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This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/2-more-cruise-ship-passengers-leave-omaha-quarantine-after-deadly-hantavirus-outbreak/.