Hantavirus response raises readiness concerns
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The federal government's lagging response to the hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship is fueling concerns about the government's preparedness for a more widespread infectious disease emergency.
Why it matters: Public health experts say the response underscored vulnerabilities tied to the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization, as well as layoffs and leadership turnover at federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What they're saying: "The U.S. has gone from leading global health security to watching from the sidelines," Tom Frieden, who served as CDC director in the Obama administration, told Axios in an email.
- Frieden pointed to the response to the COVID-19 outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in February 2020, during which the CDC director and a principal deputy briefed the public while agency staff coordinated with counterparts abroad and the agency published rapid reports that he said became a reference on cruise ship viral transmission.
- In contrast, "the first time a CDC specialist was named in this response was nine days into the emergency, and only in response to reporter questions," Frieden said.
Between the lines: Communications delays from the federal government directly to states were also of concern, Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
- "New York has three, that we know of, passengers from the ship," she said. "They're waiting to hear where they are, if they'll come their way. And you know, they heard about this in a press release," she said.
- The first Health Action Network communication to providers went out May 8. "It was April 24 that some of the passengers came back to the United States. So now they're in their communities ... without any health care provider knowing what is going on," Anand Parekh, a former deputy assistant health secretary, told Axios.
- "[Federal health officials] should have been ahead of this even if it was widely accepted that this virus likely wouldn't have pandemic potential," he said.
- The lack of direct, timely communication to the public and down to the local level created an "absence of direction from CDC as to how to interpret what was happening and what it means in terms of risk of hantavirus around the world," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
The other side: White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: "HHS and the CDC immediately convened leading experts and mobilized world-class materiel to address the recent outbreak of the Andes virus as part of a whole-of-government response."
- He noted World Health Organization officials have praised U.S. involvement and the administration is continuing to monitor the situation.
What to watch: The states' work tracking hantavirus symptoms isn't over, with several states reporting the monitoring potential exposures, including Minnesota, Kansas and California.
