US ends hantavirus outbreak response with no answers on draconian quarantines

The report of Bell’s review, which was obtained by Jeremy Faust of Inside Medicine, shows Bell firmly sided with Florida.

“Based on the foregoing, in my professional judgment, I recommend that the Federal Amended Quarantine Order be rescinded to allow Ms. Perryman to return to her home for the remainder of the 42-day quarantine period, if the Florida Department of Health agrees to accept responsibility for Ms. Perryman’s continued public health monitoring, to include remote symptom monitoring once daily,” Bell concluded. He wrote that it was “a reasonable and efficient approach that is consistent with the level of transmission risk associated with Andes virus infection. It is also consistent with the ongoing management of several other exposed individuals from the MV Hondius.”

Four days later, Kennedy signed an order extending Perryman’s forced quarantine in Nebraska, with no explanation as to why Bell’s assessment was overruled.

At today’s press conference, almost all of the questions from reporters related to Perryman’s case and the justification for the strict, unevenly applied quarantine protocol. Brendan Jackson, CDC’s acting director for the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, dodged all of the questions.

Jackson would only say that it was a “complex response,” and that “a decision was made across the federal government about the monitoring requirements for passengers returning home after their stay at the National Quarantine Unit.”

While the baffling US response has ended, the orderly international response continues. In a press briefing today, WHO reported that the outbreak tally remains at 13 cases with three deaths. More than 650 contacts have been identified and traced in 33 countries and territories. Only 54 contacts are still under quarantine, the last of which ends July 2. If no other cases are identified before that date, WHO will consider the outbreak over.