Two passengers from a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have arrived in Atlanta.
The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention informed the Georgia Department of Health on Monday that the two individuals have been transported to Emory University Hospital’s serious communicable diseases unit.
The patients landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday morning, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
The Georgia Department of Public Health notes that federal healthcare workers are taking all necessary precautions in each case and that there is no risk to the public at this time.
Gov. Brian Kemp said the state is more than qualified to treat these cases. He noted Emory’s success in treating patients during the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“We’re going to do the right thing, we’re going to help get these people back and get them in the right environment that doesn’t put our fellow Georgians in jeopardy,” Kemp said at a press conference on Monday.
Kemp also reiterated the Georgia Department of Public Health’s statement that there is “no risk to the public at this time” amid the passengers’ arrivals.
How did the hantavirus outbreak start?
The outbreak of the deadly virus is traced back to early April after a 70-year-old Dutch man developed a feverish illness on a cruise ship traveling from Argentina to Antarctica and some islands in the South Atlantic.
The man died less than a week after reporting his illness. The man’s wife, as well as a German passenger, later died of the illness.
Hantavirus was found as the cause of death for one of the cases on May 2. Two days later, the World Health Organization classified the cases as an outbreak.
About two dozen Americans were on the ship, with seven who disembarked last month and 17 who initially remained onboard and arrived back in the U.S. on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
