2 people with possible hantavirus exposures are in CA. Officials say don’t panic
Two Californians who may have been exposed to the hantavirus are back in the state — but they’re both asymptomatic, and health officials are urging residents not to panic.
In all, four California residents were in contact with people infected on the cruise ship MV Hondius, including one Sacramento County resident, California Department of Public Health Director Erica Pan said in a news conference Monday. Two individuals have not yet returned home.
The virus can affect the lungs, and in some cases, symptoms can be extremely severe. But Pan stressed that it’s usually only spread from contact with rodents, that human-to-human transmission of the virus is very rare, and that the risk to the public remains low.
“We only have two individuals in our entire state who are actually here, who have no symptoms and are being monitored daily by their local health departments,” Pan said.
Where are possibly exposed California residents?
One California resident who may have been exposed is in Sacramento County, one is in Santa Clara County and two are in a federal facility in Nebraska.
The Sacramento County resident is isolating at home after a brief but close exposure to a symptomatic person who disembarked from the ship and boarded an airplane. The resident is under the supervision of the Sacramento County Public Health officials and is following temperature check and isolation protocols, Pan said.
A second person who was on the cruise disembarked the ship and returned to Santa Clara County before the outbreak was identified. The Santa Clara County resident is also under the supervision of local public health officials and following the same guidelines as the resident near Sacramento.
Two of the four California residents who may have been exposed are at a federal facility in Nebraska and have shown no symptoms; both of those people were passengers on the cruise.
How will California prevent hantavirus spread?
Although hantavirus does not usually spread between people, public officials are being cautious in part because of the seriousness of the disease. Doctors have no way to treat it, and the virus can be deadly.
As a result, health officials are closely monitoring the two residents currently in the state. They have not been tested for the virus because tests are not administered until a person shows symptoms, and neither person has any symptoms. Out of an “abundance of caution,” Pan said, they are isolating at home, avoiding non-essential contact with the outside world, and are not interacting with people without masks, handwashing and proper ventilation.
Pan said that in the rare cases where hantavirus has spread between humans, it’s usually spread through very close contact. The people who catch it from another person usually catch it from a family member or intimate partner, often via exposure to bodily fluids, which is unlikely via contact with a stranger.
Healthcare providers have also been known to catch hantavirus from another person, she said -- but that also typically happens with close exposure to bodily fluids and, she said, probably improper personal protective equipment.
She said that arrangements had already been made with local healthcare providers to ensure they have proper PPE and know what procedures to follow should the California residents become ill and need treatment.
Although California facilities have not had direct experience with Andes hantavirus before, there have previously been a handful cases in the state of a different strain of hantavirus, Pan said. She said California has the types of facilities necessary to treat people who become extremely ill, and plans are in place should the California residents in question develop symptoms.
The potential incubation period for hantavirus is 42 days, Pan said.
If the two residents who are in Nebraska return to California within that potential incubation period, Pan said, they will not fly on commercial flights.
Hantavirus is not like COVID
Hantavirus is not a novel virus, Pan said. Unlike COVID in 2020, public health officials and doctors can rely on extensive existing research in combatting and controlling the spread of this illness. In South America, health officials have been dealing with hantavirus for “decades,” Pan said.
Hantavirus is also less contagious than COVID, and, unlike COVID, does not appear to spread before symptoms materialize. The cruise ship where the outbreak started was a small ship with “a lot of close contact” between passengers, Pan said.
This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 3:50 PM with the headline "2 people with possible hantavirus exposures are in CA. Officials say don’t panic."
