Experts Question CDC Response as Hantavirus Cases Involving Americans Rise

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has faced criticism from public health experts over its response to a hantavirus outbreak involving Americans, Mike Stobbe reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The CDC additionally issued its first health advisory to American doctors warning about potential imported cases.

Critics noted the absence of rapid disease investigator deployments, televised briefings, and timely alerts to doctors during the early stages of the outbreak.

President Donald Trump told reporters evening, “We seem to have things under very good control.” Health experts, however, said the situation aboard a cruise ship had not escalated primarily because hantavirus does not spread easily between people, unlike COVID-19, measles, or influenza.

“It has been health experts in other countries, not the US, who have been dealing primarily with the outbreak in the past week,” said Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University.

“The CDC is not even a player. I’ve never seen that before.”

Late Friday, CDC activity intensified. Officials confirmed that a response team would travel to Spain’s Canary Islands, where the cruise ship was expected to dock Sunday, to assist American passengers onboard.

A second team was also assigned to Offutt Air Force Base as part of preparations to transport US passengers to a quarantine facility. The CDC additionally issued its first health advisory to American doctors warning about potential imported cases.