What we learned today about the hantavirus outbreak
Federal officials provided more details Friday about the Canadians who may have been exposed to the potentially deadly hantavirus after an outbreak on board a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, and what they’re doing to prevent it from spreading in Canada.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Joss Reimer said six Canadians who were exposed to the virus are currently asymptomatic but have been asked to self-isolate.
Of the six, two were passengers on the cruise ship who disembarked on April 24. Earlier Friday, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said the couple who disembarked live in the area of the Grey Bruce Public Health Unit in southern Ontario and are being monitored for 45 days, the longest potential incubation period for the virus.
A third Canadian, from Quebec, is also isolating because they possibly came into contact during an international trip with a person infected with hantavirus, Quebec’s health minister said Thursday.
Reimer said the three other Canadians who are isolating had been on the same flight as a Dutch woman who died from the virus. The woman had disembarked to accompany the body of her husband, who was the first person to die aboard the ship.
Reimer said the six Canadians haven’t been tested for the virus because there is currently no valid test for people who don’t have symptoms.
“If we were to do a test on them, and if it came back negative, that could falsely reassure them they are not infected when we wouldn’t be confident of that,” she said.
Officials also fielded a number of questions about the four Canadians who are still on board the ship that’s set to dock in the Canary Islands in Spain this weekend.
Reimer said those four passengers are also asymptomatic.
Canadian consular officials will be there to greet them and make sure proper protocols are followed, said Sebastian Beaulieu, director general for emergency management and preparedness with Global Affairs Canada. A public health officer is also en route to monitor the process.
Reimer repeated multiple times that the risk to the general population in Canada is low and officials do not expect further spread in Canada.
But she acknowledged that Canadians might be concerned or nervous about the outbreak, especially given how recent the COVID-19 pandemic was.
“I want to reiterate: we are taking this very seriously,” she said.
