Look, I know the minute we hear “outbreak” and “quarantine,” the collective trauma from 2020 starts acting up. But before things get chaotic, the World Health Organization (WHO) is stepping to the mic this Thursday to let folks know that this hantavirus situation on a cruise ship is not about to be COVID 2.0… so they say.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness, was very clear about the difference. “This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” she stressed. “It doesn’t spread the same way like coronaviruses do.”
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The WHO is tracking an outbreak of the Andes virus, a specific strain of hantavirus, linked to a cruise ship. Abdirahman Mahamud, the WHO’s director for health emergency alert and response, also tried to cool tension and panic during the briefing in Geneva: “We don’t anticipate a large epidemic with the experience our member states have and the actions they have taken. We believe that this will not lead to subsequent chains of transmission.”
Translation? They’ve got their eyes on it, and they don’t think it’s going to jump off like that.
Why This Ain’t COVID
I know what you’re thinking: “That’s what they said last time!”
What’s Happening Now?
So far, there are five confirmed cases. The ship is currently heading toward the Canary Islands, and the WHO says the risk to the public and the islands is low.
How It Started
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared that the first two people who got sick had been traveling through Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay before they even got on the ship. They apparently visited some bird-watching spots where the rats carrying the Andes virus like to hang out.
The agency has already reached out to 12 countries that had citizens get off the ship in Saint Helena, including the US, the UK, Canada, and several others.
Officials say they are watching this situation closely.