Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued mandatory federal quarantine orders to 18 American citizens who had been passengers aboard the M/V Hondius, an expedition cruise ship on which there was an outbreak of the deadly Andes strain of hantavirus. None of the 18 Americans had tested positive for the respiratory virus at the time the involuntary quarantine orders were issued.1
The orders required the Americans to be sent to and remain in the federally funded National Quarantine Unit (NQU) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, through at least May 31, 2026. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who leads both the CDC and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) signed the quarantine orders. Bhattacharya is a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, which was written to protest the government’s lockdown policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.2
Several passengers who had been on the cruise ship had already made arrangements with their state and local health departments to be monitored at home. However, all 18 passengers were informed at the last minute that they would not be allowed to return home and instead would be forced to stay in the NQU.3
Angela Perryman, 47, was among the 18 Americans ordered to remain in quarantine at the Nebraska facility.4 Despite federal health officials publicly stating that the passengers’ stay at NQU was entirely voluntary, when Perryman and another passenger attempted to leave, they were handed federal stay-in-place quarantine orders.5 Anyone violating the quarantine orders issued by the government would face a criminal fine or up to one year in jail.6
Perryman told NPR:
I am angry. I feel betrayed because I’m being imprisoned. It’s a nice prison. But this is a prison. Let’s be clear: I am being detained against my will.7
Perryman volunteered to quarantine at home and be monitored by public health officials, nonetheless, she was forced to stay in the quarantine center.8
Perryman warned:
If they can do this to me they could do it to anybody. They could come up with a similarly unsupported order and lock you up in the same facility.9
Stephen Kornfeld, MD, a retired oncologist from Oregon, complained:
I don’t see why I can’t be home. If I’m home, I have my stuff. I can go outside in my yard. Here, I’m locked in a little room. I can’t go outside. Everything I do has to be through these doctors at the front desk. I don’t want to be incarcerated.10
Questions About Human-to-Human Transmission of Hantavirus
Hantavirus is part of a group of hemorrhagic fever infections that cause severe pulmonary, syndrome and heart and kidney complications with a 10 to 20 day incubation period and a significant fatality rate. Although human infections are primarily associated with direct exposure to infected rodents or their urine, feces and saliva, human to human transmission has been rarely reported between close contacts through suspected exposure to an infected person’s body fluids. The recent hantavirus strain Andes virus (ANDV) infections and deaths identified on the cruise ship in the Atlantic have been heavily publicized as being caused by human to human transmission of the virus.11 12 13 14
However, several years ago authors of a systematic review of the evidence for human transmission of ANDV published in the medical literature concluded that direct exposure to infected rats or their body fluids—and not human to human transmission—is necessary for Andes strain hantavirus infection to occur. They state:
The balance of the evidence does not support the claim of human-to-human transmission of ANDV. Well-designed cohort and case-control studies that control for co-exposure to rodents are needed to inform public health recommendations.15
Quarantine May Not Be Scientifically Justified
James Hodge, JD, director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy at Arizona State University, suggests that the mandatory quarantine of cruise ship passengers in the Nebraska federal quarantine center raises a due process claim.
Hodge stated:
Absent more direct evidence of the real risks that these persons present and their unwillingness potentially to adhere to home quarantine or something less restrictive than being held in a federal facility in Nebraska, there’s a very real legal case that could be made to say: ‘This is a due process violation. You’re infringing my liberty without direct sufficient evidence.’16
This mandatory quarantine order was only the second such federal order in the U.S. in approximately half a century and the first since the government’s COVID pandemic response.17
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Click here to view References:1 Goodman B, Giuliani Hoffman F. American passenger on hantavirus-hit cruise feels ‘blindsided’ and ‘misled’ by new quarantine orders. CNN May 19, 2026.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Stein R. American passenger feels ‘betrayed’ by federal order to stay in hantavirus quarantine. NPR May 21, 2026.
5 NPR. 2 Americans forced into quarantine following deadly cruise ship hantavirus outbreak. May 21, 2026.
6 Vespa M. American who was on the hantavirus cruise ship says isolation center is like ‘prison’. MSN May 26, 2026.
7 NPR. 2 Americans forced into quarantine following deadly cruise ship hantavirus outbreak. May 21, 2026.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Vial PA, Ferres M, Vial C et al. Hantavirus in humans: a review of clinical aspects and management. Lancet Infect Dis 2023; 23(9).
12 Islam MS, Chughtai AA, Wood TG et al. Hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the South Atlantic. The Lancet 2026; 407(10545): 2286-2287.
13 Syal A, Dunn L. What is the Andes virus? The hantavirus linked to a cruise ship outbreak is among the deadliest strains. NBC News May 7, 2026.
14 World Health Organization (WHO). Hantavirus outbreak linked to cruise ship travel, multi-locations. May 28, 2026.
15 Toldeo J, Haby MM, Reveiz L et al. Evidence for Human to Human Transmission of Hantavirus: A Systematic Review. J Infect Dis 2022; 226(8): 1362-1371.
16 NPR. 2 Americans forced into quarantine following deadly cruise ship hantavirus outbreak. May 21, 2026.
17 Ibid.
16 Responses
Covid quarantines were unjustified as well
Don’t leave the country, unless absolutely necessary! they’re trying to put the fear in the people at large! when you leave the country, as in returning from abroad, they use ” special powers” within the legal system that give them dictatorial powers when you are returning to your country of origin! like many of our laws that use very narrow circumstances to try and paint with a large brush to scare us all! and sue, sue , sue several govt. branches all at once! get pro Bono lawyers that hate this foul,mostly unconstitutional govt. we are living under!
Is the title of this article a simple syntax error or a deliberate attempt to confuse? On reading the article it becomes clear that the CDC did not “involuntarily” quarantine these people, but quite intentionally. The involuntary part was that the persons quarantined did not voluntarily go into quarantine. I am surprised that Batacharya would sign such an order.
“CDC Officials Involuntarily Quarantine Americans After Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship”
the word “involuntarily” is an adverb. Grammatically, it modifies the verb phrase “quarantine Americans,” meaning the quarantine was imposed against the Americans’ wishes.
If the intended meaning is that the Americans themselves were involuntary participants (rather than describing how the quarantine was carried out), English still typically uses the adverb:
CDC Officials Involuntarily Quarantine Americans…
CDC Officials Force Americans into Quarantine…
CDC Officials Place Americans Under Mandatory Quarantine…
CDC Officials Quarantine Americans Against Their Will… because “involuntary” describes a thing or action that is not done by choice, not a permanent characteristic of the people.
For a punchier headline, I’d suggest:
“CDC Officials Quarantine Americans Against Their Will After Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship”
or
“CDC Officials Impose Mandatory Quarantine on Americans After Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship”
Both make the intended meaning unmistakable.
AT HOME quarantine would suffice as the doctors are doing much thinking anymore, using A.I. chatbots, and people could chat with bots from home and then be able to feed the cat to catch any rodents that might transmit the virus. But it might disturb the neighbors if the CDC arrived with their swat teams and people in hazmat suits to take a blood draw at home. Besides, an all paid trip to Nebraska … ?? … maybe the quarantine center should be in Hawaii.
agree!
I think they should pay these people a handsome sum for false imprisonment. And some people should be fired.
If the WHO, CDC and governments are trying to tank the cruise ship business, they’re doing a great job.
Anyone with half a brain knows cruise ships are rampant with
different diseases. Used to be the Norwalk Virus, then it was Coofid and now it is Hantavirus, which is caused by exposure
to mouse feces. If anyone believes there are not mice on a cruise ship, well, they need to get their Headgear flushed out!
This is another reason why I’ll never step through on a cruise ship
A precedent has been set. Rest assured it will be used nefariously in the future. God help us.
“The particles identified by virologists as “viruses” have never been proven to be pathogenic contagions”. No more needs to be said.
Continuation of tyranny from the scamdemic era. Following in the Australia’s Orwellian footsteps. Absolutely should NOT be allowed in the US!! This is NOT about the so-called virus — which is NOT a virus, by the way — it’s about CONTROL!! There are very nefarious purposes behind this.
Most likely, the so-called hantavirus is yet another vaccine-induced illness. Like COVID, however, it’s prevalence is exaggerated to take away human rights. Absolutely, a horrible precedent – shame on Bhattacharya. We must abandon germ theory, which has always been a false narrative!
The fallacy which is ‘public health’. There is only individual health and individual responsibility. ‘A government agency violates citizens rights of due process and free travel.’ What’s new? Keep voting for more taxes, more government expansion, more new programs, keep subscribing to every new tech capability; watch your rights turn into illusionary privileges as the technocracy expands.
Let me clue you in on a few simple facts; There is no hippa, it’s dead. The moment you’re tested traced swabbed or otherwise identified as carrying any number of infectious diseases, or even having been possibly exposed, your rights are trampled on before you’re ever made aware what’s happening. Your supposed medical privacy and confidential expectations vanishes in an instant. Hospitals share your data with government local state and federal, private agencies, departments of insurance you’ve never heard of. Your data includes; photographic, every contact information, biometrics, address, associates, family members, prescriptions, medical history. In an instant the illusion of privacy is lifted in favor of ‘public health’.
Pure democracy at it’s finest, when the republic is no longer and individual rights are no more. ‘Public health’. If you believe in the concept of public health, you have in turned relinquished your belief in concepts such as individual rights in a republic setting, that despite overwhelming disagreement or unfavorable positions, each individuals rights are inalienable regardless of other peoples safety or beliefs. Also forgoing many principals of sound representative democracy. To accept the idea of public health is to have accepted a pragmatically and fundamentally opposite view of individual rights compared to that within a republic democracy structure. Your representation and capacity for self agency, your inalienable rights in a republic, makes way for more socialistic views aligned with pure democracy such as the greater good and the needs of the many. You, as an individual, no longer have rights.
The historical statistical reference is of utmost importance. We’re seeing violations if inalienable rights more frequently because socialism is already here. These situations are made possible by complacence and compliance. There are many people whom would never allow themselves to be quarantined in this manner and they would most certainly have snuck away, resisted, or had a direct confrontation with those attempting to restrict their rights. Cruise ships are great places to find submissive entitled people whom are willing to stand in line and follow orders from complete strangers. Catch us if you can. We will not comply. Dazed and confused for so long it’s not true.
I think the Feds did the right thing.
It’s really our fault. We voted these tyrants into office.
Now we need to exorcise them.