Honestly. So much overreaction about this. Everyone is letting the news work their manipilative bullshit spreading panic and fear so you keep tuning in and clicking o
Its pretty sad to see how many people on the fediverse are falling for the bs
It does with this strain/variant which is why this story is newsworthy. But the usual one does not. There have been localized outbreaks of this one in the past but never a worldwide pandemic.
As much as I agree with the sentiment of the comment you responded to, I appreciate you for keeping the conversation grounded and honest. You deserve every upvote.
If it hadn’t left the ship you’d be right, but it has. A Swiss man left the cruise and tested positive later. If he rode public transit during rush hour even once while infected it could be bad.
I’m not as familiar with Swiss transport, but I’ve been packed ass to face many of times on a train in Europe
Notable that the virus has a 1 to 8 Week incubation period. The first guy died 5 days into the trip. Implying that he(and probably his wife) brought it onto the ship.
Right if you read the article he was the only one that both left the ship and was later confirmed as infected. There was another Dutch couple that left while sick and quickly were hospitalized. My concern is he was able to move around freely all while he was unknowingly infected. He seems to be the one that had the most opportunity to spread the infection.
Others also left early and have been quarantined. They have not shown symptoms so I didn’t bring them up when discussing spread. One infected couple left early as well, but they were already sick and didn’t leave South Africa. Although they may have infected a flight attendant, still waiting on tests.
Of course the virus can have a long incubation period. So these individuals may be more relevant to discussion later. There are those that were evacuated to recieve medical treatment elsewhere, but it’s not like they are walking around their respective countries.
So first, i don’t think that article says they tracked them all.
And second, if you can test them and rule out infection with certainty, why would they be ordered to isolate?
I think the incubation period does play a role there.
Authorities in St. Helena, the volcanic British territory in the South Atlantic where passengers disembarked, said they were monitoring a small number of people who were considered “higher risk contacts.” Those contacts were being told to isolate for 45 days, the St. Helena government said.
Yes those higher risk contacts in St. Helena are those that interacted with the passangers/crew when the ship was in port. They are not the people that were passangers on board the ship that left.
And second, if you can test them and rule out infection with certainty, why would they be ordered to isolate?
I did not say this. They are testing an already ill flight attendant. You can’t test during the incubation period. Which is highly variable with this virus.
The incubation period is huge. In 40 days we’ll know if we are having another pandemic or not.
Hantavirus is not COVID. Every contagious disease isn’t spread through aerosols. Hantavirus needs close, extended contact to transfer, unlike COVID. You’re not going to get hantavirus from walking into a store.
Yes I understand that. Being crammed against another person for a long enough period of time seems right. During any major holiday if you take a train you can easily spend 1 or 2 hours pressed against a few people. Seems fairly close and extended to me. Especially considering there may have already been spread of the virus from contact in an airplane.
Rush hour commutes you might be pressed against a couple of people for 20 minutes or so depending on your commute. This is close, but maybe not extended enough.
Okay now I’m confused. I was talking about the Swiss guy who returned to Switzerland and the public transit system of Europe.
I suppose we’re on a thread talking about some American public figures huffing Ivermectin, but I was more concerned about the spread. Which seems like it will kick off in Europe first
Oh, I misunderstood, because of the OP I thought we were talking about the US. I still wouldn’t worry about it, you need bodily fluid contact to transfer it. Monkeypox is more contagious and it never took off.
That’s almost as good as my idea. I thought like a really light version of COVID with nothing but light symptoms like fever and sneezing, but it would change your DNA just the right way, so you develop a hidden FFI prion infection, leading to you eventually not being able to sleep until you die.
By the time anyone realizes it is even a thing, nearly everyone would be infected, just a few prions would be 100% fatal, and there would be nowhere on Earth to hide.
Everyone dies from lack of sleep induced dementia.
It was relatively new(20 years 30 years) to the southern end of South America, they beat out an initial outbreak of it, has been endemic there since.
Not too much reaearch has been done on it, i.e. few experts.
It appears that it is most, and potentially only infectious when symptoms are showing, particularly the fever, but is very easily spread during that small window.
It seems like it isnt as easily spread as covid, but yeah, is much nastier.
Three that I know of.
The Eurasian/African one that is the least dangerous and doesnt transmit human to human.
The continental Americas strain that is pretty dangerous(lethality in the 30-60% range) but doesn’t spread human to human.
The new kid on the block, the Andes strain, an offshoot of the Americas one. Last Outbreak was in a small town in Argentina in 2018, first discovered 1995, first human to human 1996. ~40 known infections, 11 deaths. Can spread human to human. It has already been confirmed we are dealing with this one.
Covid spread easily; I don’t think hantavirus is as easy to spread. However, it’s much more deadly and can be dormant for 60 days, spreading itself.
We’re pretty fucked.
Settle down, we are not fucked. Hantavirus has been around forever, even this strain.
Honestly. So much overreaction about this. Everyone is letting the news work their manipilative bullshit spreading panic and fear so you keep tuning in and clicking o
Its pretty sad to see how many people on the fediverse are falling for the bs
Has it spread human to human? I thought that was a new thing.
It does with this strain/variant which is why this story is newsworthy. But the usual one does not. There have been localized outbreaks of this one in the past but never a worldwide pandemic.
People on the floating petri dishes that are cruiseships are fucked. The rest of us are in no more danger from this than we were before.
The CDC Fired All Its Cruise Ship Inspectors Before the Hantavirus Outbreak
Probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference for a ship registered in the Netherlands that never made port in the US.
Will probably be a problem down the road though
As much as I agree with the sentiment of the comment you responded to, I appreciate you for keeping the conversation grounded and honest. You deserve every upvote.
I was kinda hoping that it would lead to The Onion, alas…
The onion lost to real life years ago
If it hadn’t left the ship you’d be right, but it has. A Swiss man left the cruise and tested positive later. If he rode public transit during rush hour even once while infected it could be bad.
I’m not as familiar with Swiss transport, but I’ve been packed ass to face many of times on a train in Europe
Notable that the virus has a 1 to 8 Week incubation period. The first guy died 5 days into the trip. Implying that he(and probably his wife) brought it onto the ship.
Lot of people left, not just a “Swiss man”
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/07/nx-s1-5814632/passengers-left-ship-hantavirus-st-helena
Right if you read the article he was the only one that both left the ship and was later confirmed as infected. There was another Dutch couple that left while sick and quickly were hospitalized. My concern is he was able to move around freely all while he was unknowingly infected. He seems to be the one that had the most opportunity to spread the infection.
Others also left early and have been quarantined. They have not shown symptoms so I didn’t bring them up when discussing spread. One infected couple left early as well, but they were already sick and didn’t leave South Africa. Although they may have infected a flight attendant, still waiting on tests.
Of course the virus can have a long incubation period. So these individuals may be more relevant to discussion later. There are those that were evacuated to recieve medical treatment elsewhere, but it’s not like they are walking around their respective countries.
So first, i don’t think that article says they tracked them all.
And second, if you can test them and rule out infection with certainty, why would they be ordered to isolate?
I think the incubation period does play a role there.
Yes those higher risk contacts in St. Helena are those that interacted with the passangers/crew when the ship was in port. They are not the people that were passangers on board the ship that left.
I did not say this. They are testing an already ill flight attendant. You can’t test during the incubation period. Which is highly variable with this virus.
The incubation period is huge. In 40 days we’ll know if we are having another pandemic or not.
Hantavirus is not COVID. Every contagious disease isn’t spread through aerosols. Hantavirus needs close, extended contact to transfer, unlike COVID. You’re not going to get hantavirus from walking into a store.
Do you wear gloves every time you touch a door handle?
Do you not wash your hands before touching your face or food? Because that’s literally all you need to do.
Yes I understand that. Being crammed against another person for a long enough period of time seems right. During any major holiday if you take a train you can easily spend 1 or 2 hours pressed against a few people. Seems fairly close and extended to me. Especially considering there may have already been spread of the virus from contact in an airplane.
Rush hour commutes you might be pressed against a couple of people for 20 minutes or so depending on your commute. This is close, but maybe not extended enough.
The potential is there
Sounds like a good reason to keep driving my canyonero. S/
For transfer exclusively to people who spend extended time on very crowded public transit, maybe, but that describes a very tiny portion of Americans.
Okay now I’m confused. I was talking about the Swiss guy who returned to Switzerland and the public transit system of Europe.
I suppose we’re on a thread talking about some American public figures huffing Ivermectin, but I was more concerned about the spread. Which seems like it will kick off in Europe first
Oh, I misunderstood, because of the OP I thought we were talking about the US. I still wouldn’t worry about it, you need bodily fluid contact to transfer it. Monkeypox is more contagious and it never took off.
More to the point, on a boat with any kind of outbreak… it’s usually always related to the food storage. Main reason why I’d never go on a cruise.
That’s almost as good as my idea. I thought like a really light version of COVID with nothing but light symptoms like fever and sneezing, but it would change your DNA just the right way, so you develop a hidden FFI prion infection, leading to you eventually not being able to sleep until you die.
By the time anyone realizes it is even a thing, nearly everyone would be infected, just a few prions would be 100% fatal, and there would be nowhere on Earth to hide.
Everyone dies from lack of sleep induced dementia.
I, too have played Plague, Inc
👍
What little Ive seen documented:
20 years30 years) to the southern end of South America, they beat out an initial outbreak of it, has been endemic there since.There’s kind of two varieties. The Americas one is different to the other and was discovered more recently.
Three that I know of.
The Eurasian/African one that is the least dangerous and doesnt transmit human to human.
The continental Americas strain that is pretty dangerous(lethality in the 30-60% range) but doesn’t spread human to human.
The new kid on the block, the Andes strain, an offshoot of the Americas one. Last Outbreak was in a small town in Argentina in 2018, first discovered 1995, first human to human 1996. ~40 known infections, 11 deaths. Can spread human to human. It has already been confirmed we are dealing with this one.