{"id":19807,"date":"2026-05-09T06:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T06:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/19807\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T06:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T06:58:16","slug":"some-passengers-of-the-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-fear-what-awaits-back-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/19807\/","title":{"rendered":"Some passengers of the hantavirus-hit cruise ship fear what awaits back home"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADRID (AP) \u2014 In the days since the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, concern has taken hold among at least some of its Spanish passengers \u2014 but not so much because they fear contracting the illness. Rather, they are afraid of how they will be received back on land.<\/p>\n

They have seen sensational news reports and devil-may-care memes ostracizing those aboard the MV Hondius, two passengers told The Associated Press by phone from the ship on Friday. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou go onto social media \u2014 they want to dynamite the boat. They want to sink the boat,\u201d a Spanish man said.<\/p>\n

He says he worries about being stigmatized as a viral vector to be avoided \u2014 or worse. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of these concerns, and another Spanish woman insisted on anonymity for the same reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see what\u2019s out there and you realize you\u2019re heading into the eye of a hurricane,\u201d she said. \u201cMany people forget that in here there are more than 140 passengers. In reality, there are 140 human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A passenger on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, reads the news on his mobile phone during the voyage to Spain\u2019s port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

A passenger on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, reads the news on his mobile phone during the voyage to Spain\u2019s port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

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Coronavirus flashbacks<\/p>\n

A cruise ship with an outbreak has dredged up COVID-19 d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu<\/a> \u2014 but it\u2019s misplaced, according to the World Health Organization. For days, WHO officials have sought to dispel comparisons between coronavirus and hantavirus, stressing that the latter poses very low risk to the general public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very different virus. I want to be unequivocal here,\u201d Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO\u2019s head of epidemic and pandemic preparedness, said on Thursday. \u201cThis is not the start of a COVID pandemic.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings<\/a> and isn\u2019t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus<\/a> detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread<\/a> between people in rare cases. <\/p>\n

But some are dismissing health experts \u2014 just as they did during the pandemic. Iustitia Europa, an anti-establishment Spanish group that rose to prominence by challenging COVID-era restrictions, called for the MV Hondius to be barred from reaching Spanish shores. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Canary Islands cannot become Europe\u2019s health laboratory … We demand transparency, responsibility, and protection for Spaniards to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past,\u201d it posted on X.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Crew<\/p>\n

Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain\u2019s port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain\u2019s port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

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A frosty response from some Spanish politicians<\/p>\n

Others defaulted to defensive footing. The Canary Islands regional president, Fernando Clavijo, told Spain\u2019s El Pa\u00eds newspaper Friday he wouldn\u2019t be at ease until the ship leaves Spain and all passengers were headed to their respective quarantine destinations. Madrid\u2019s regional leader Isabel D\u00edaz Ayuso on Thursday said she disagreed with the decision to transfer the ship\u2019s 14 Spanish passengers to a military hospital in the Spanish capital, where authorities have said they will have to quarantine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen news that no one wants this boat. That it\u2019s a boat of infected people, a boat of multimillionaires, full of rats,\u201d the Spanish man said. \u201cSociety is in some way contaminated with a lot of noise and a lot of lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was taking some solace in Spanish authorities\u2019 assurance of official escorts upon their arrival in Tenerife, where on Thursday port workers protested, citing lack of information provided about safety measures to be implemented. <\/p>\n

The more than 140 passengers and crew could begin disembarking as early as Sunday. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain’s port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)\n <\/p>\n

A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain’s port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n

\n A passenger on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, helps himself to water at the ship’s self-service area during the voyage to Spain’s port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)\n <\/p>\n

A passenger on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, helps himself to water at the ship’s self-service area during the voyage to Spain’s port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

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Daily life aboard the cruise ship<\/p>\n

The Spanish man said he was put at ease about the virus by a group of specialists who boarded while the ship was still off the coast of Cape Verde and explained the rarity of human-to-human transmission.<\/p>\n

Passengers\u2019 day-to-day routine has been tranquil, he added. Those who venture from their cabins into common areas lounge about reading, or attend talks \u2014 all the while wearing masks and observing social distancing. Some join a 7:30 a.m. exercise group on one of the upper decks.<\/p>\n

Others go out for air and try to spot birds; many had hoped to return from some of the most remote places on Earth with photos of wildlife, not find themselves the focus of a glaring global spotlight.<\/p>\n

Even so, both Spanish passengers said they would go on another cruise in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, personally, traveling is a means to … live out what I\u2019m passionate about \u2014 which is observing nature and documenting nature,\u201d she said. \u201cOf course I would go on a cruise again.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Biller reported from Rome. AP photographer Emilio Morenatti contributed from Barcelona. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID (AP) \u2014 In the days since the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9513,647,10659,10274,10660,9704,1220,9587,373,4672,154,9646,17,1924,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-19807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-atlantic-ocean","9":"tag-canary-islands","10":"tag-coronavirus","11":"tag-covid-19","12":"tag-disease-outbreaks","13":"tag-fernando-clavijo","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-hantavirus","16":"tag-health","17":"tag-isabel-daz-ayuso","18":"tag-latin-america","19":"tag-maria-van-kerkhove","20":"tag-spain","21":"tag-world-health-organization","22":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}