Please Note: This transcript is not edited and may contain errors.

00:00:00 Operator

Mr. Haynes, you may begin.

00:00:09 Ben Haynes, CDC Moderator

Thank you Julie, and thank you all for joining us today as we wrap up our hantavirus outbreak response, Here to discuss the response is Dr. Brendan Jackson, the acting director of CDC ‘s Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology. I’ll now turn the call over to Dr. Jackson.

00:00:26 CAPT Brendan Jackson, M.D., M.P.H., Acting Director, CDC’s Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology

Thank you and good afternoon; this week marks the successful conclusion of CDC ‘s public health response to the hantavirus outbreak associated with the M/V Hondius cruise ship. On Sunday, CDC together with state and local health departments across the country ,completed the 42-day monitoring period for all U.S. citizens identified as having potential exposure to the Andes virus, and everyone is home safe.

None of the people being monitored developed hantavirus disease; for CDC, this marks the end of a complex public health response that involved partners across multiple states, federal agencies, health systems and international organizations.

But before I talk about the response itself, I want to recognize the people at the center of this effort.

Several weeks ago, my CDC colleagues and I were in Nebraska for the arrival of the passengers from the cruise ship. These passengers were navigating uncertainty, disruption to their daily lives, and concerns for themselves and their families. I’d like to thank them for their cooperation and commitment to protecting others.

Public health responses succeed because people step up when asked to do something difficult. The people involved in this response did exactly that, and we are grateful for their partnership and collaboration. The outcome is good news for them, their families, their communities, and for public health.

From the beginning, our goal was to identify potentially exposed people, provide appropriate monitoring, and support and reduce the possibility of further transmittal.

And CDC was engaged at every step of the response.

Following notification of the outbreak, we worked closely with international partners, provided guidance and information to affected Americans, deployed staff to the Canary Islands to meet U.S. passengers, supported their repatriation to Nebraska, coordinated monitoring and assessments after their return, and worked with state and local health departments to identify and monitor additional U.S. residents that may have been exposed.

Throughout the response, we also provided regular updates and resources to the public, elected officials, and public health partners.

I also want to recognize the extraordinary efforts of our state, tribal, territorial, and local public health colleagues as well as our healthcare partners, other federal agencies, and international counterparts. Their professionalism, coordination and dedication were critical throughout this response.

Although monitoring activities in the United States are now complete, CDC ‘s scientific work related to this outbreak continues.

CDC scientists recently returned from Argentina where they worked with Argentine public health and epidemiology partners to better understand the origins of this outbreak, including trapping and testing rodents in areas connected to the outbreak, to help identify potential sources of Andes virus transmission.

The information gathered through this work will help us better understand Andes virus and strengthen strategies to detect prevent and respond to future outbreaks.

This is an important reminder that public health responses do not end when an immediate threat passes. We continue to learn from every event, and those lessons help improve preparedness and protection for people everywhere.

We’re thankful that all monitored us contacts have completed the monitoring period without developing disease.

Public health is often most visible during moments of uncertainty. This week we can recognize something equally important: a successful outcome made possible by cooperation, science, and the commitment of people who chose to put the health of their communities first. This is what public health looks like when it works: people across communities, states and countries coming together to detect a threat, respond quickly, and protect lives.

Most people will never see the outbreaks that are prevented or the illnesses that never occur, but that is exactly the point.

Thank you.

00:04:14 Mr. Haynes

Thank you, Dr. Jackson. Julie we are ready to take questions.

00:04:19 Operator

Thank you if you are a credentialed member of the media you would like to ask a question during the call please press star one on your touch tone phone press star 2 to withdraw your question you may queue up at any time.

One moment please. Our first question comes from Pien Huang with NPR; your line is open.

00:05:32 Pien Huang, NPR

Hi; thanks for taking my question. Now that the quarantine is over, I wanted to ask about the experience of Angela Perryman. She was not allowed to leave the quarantine facility even though the CDC medical review supported her release to home quarantine. I’m wondering what were the reasons for that and whether that sets a precedent for the future.

00:05:54 Dr. Jackson

Great question. So, I’ll say this was a complex response involving many federal, state, and local partners. A decision was made across the federal government about the monitoring requirements for passengers returning home after their stay at the National Quarantine Unit. CDC worked with state and local partners to tailor monitoring based on the resources available in each jurisdiction.

00:06:17 Mr. Haynes

Next question, please.

00:06:23 Operator

One moment for the next question.

Our next question comes from Mike Stobbe with The Associated Press; your line is open.

00:06:36 Mike Stobbe, Associated Press

Hi thank you for taking my question; you said that you had sent some CDC people to Argentina to work on, among other things, investigating the origin of the outbreak. I was wondering how many CDC-ers went and what’s the current best understanding of the origin of the outbreak is.

And also, could you tell us the total cost of the quarantining operation of the University of Nebraska: how much, how much money taxpayer money was spent on that. Thank you.

00:07:10 Dr. Jackson

Thanks for the questions. On the last one, about the cost, I would have to defer to colleagues at the Agency for Strategic Preparedness and Response, as they maintain the contract related to quarantine, so would defer to them there. Related to the trip to Argentina, there were 2 disease ecologists, actually from the division that I work in, the Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, that traveled down to Argentina where they met one of the CDC assigned or the CDC assignee down that works in Argentina.

And they worked directly with investigators in that country. They were trapping rodents. Unfortunately, all the ones that they identified were, were negative, based on preliminary information so far. In terms of the likely source of exposure, I think that’s something that’s really still under investigation.

We know that, that, and these virus is prevalent throughout certain parts of Argentina, and we’re really trying to better understand where those places might be, where it might be, areas where it has not been fully detected, in ways of helping to protect the people that live in that country and visit it as well.

00:08:14 Mr. Haynes

Next question, please.

00:08:17 Operator

Thank you; our next question comes from Allison Young with Healthbeat; your line is open.

00:08:22 Alison Young, Healthbeat

Hi. I’m hoping you can talk a little bit about what the terms and conditions were for allowing some of the passengers to undergo home quarantine in their home states, and in particular, I’m hoping that you can talk a little bit about the reports that some of the passengers, or many of them, were required 24/7 home monitoring, and, and a little bit about what were the public health and scientific justifications for that level of monitoring.

00:09:01 Dr. Jackson

Yeah, absolutely. I’ll just reiterate that this was a complex response, and it involved a lot of federal, state, and local partners, as you’ve referenced, so the decision about monitoring was made across the federal government. And that was both in terms of where they were monitored and in terms of what the monitoring requirements look like.

00:09:25 Ms. Young

Can you say anything about what your knowledge is of the scientific basis for 24/7 monitoring?

00:09:36 Dr. Jackson

You know, I think again, just referring to the fact this was a complex response that involved a lot of federal, state, and local partners, and that decision was made across the federal government about the monitoring requirements.

00:09:47 Mr. Haynes

Next question, please.

00:09:50 Operator

As a reminder to ask a question please press star one; one moment.

Our next question comes from Anthony Stitt with Healio; your line is open.

00:10:12 Anthony Stitt, Healio

Hi thanks so much for taking my call. There were 3 deaths as a result of this outbreak; there are a few other cases as well. What’s the health like of those cases, of the people who survived, other long term health issues with them, at all or are they completely healthy right now?

00:10:35 Dr. Jackson

It’s a good question. I’ll just, as you, as you all know, none of the Americans who were involved in this outbreak became ill, and so all of those passengers were residents of other countries, and there’s a coordinated effort to help understand that the illness courses of those people. And I expect more information to come out in that in the future.

00:11:01 Mr. Haynes

Our next question, please.

00:11:06 Operator

One moment for the next question. Our last question comes from Jennifer Calfas with Wall Street Journal, your line is open.

00:11:21 Jennifer Calfas, Wall Street Journal

Great; thank you all for doing this; we really appreciate it. I just, I’m not quite sure how much more you can say on this, but I wanted to ask more about the 24/7 monitoring where some of the former passengers able to return home because their states had agreed to monitor them 24/7, and were others denied because of states either decided not to or could not provide that kind of monitor.

I just wanted to understand a little bit more about specifically how that played a role in which passengers were able to, or which more passengers were able to, you know, finish their quarantine at home, you know, following the guidelines set by the federal government.

00:12:01 Dr. Jackson

So, to answer your question briefly: Yes, you are correct in your understanding there ,and just to add on that some of the passengers elected to complete their stay at the National Quarantine Unit on their own.

00:12:14 Mr. Haynes

Thank you, Dr. Jackson, and thank you all for joining us. A transcript of this briefing will be available on the media website, or media newsroom, atwww.cdc.gov/media. Thank you; this will conclude our briefing.

00:12:30 Operator

Thank you for your participation. Participants, you may disconnect at this time.