Health officials are monitoring an Arizona resident who was on a cruise ship where several passengers contracted hantavirus, but health officials say there's little threat to locals.

Why it matters: Hantavirus is highly dangerous and frequently fatal.

• Unlike other strains, including the one native to Arizona, the Andes strain that struck the cruise ship is transmitted from person to person.

State of play: The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) said the person being monitored is not symptomatic.

• Local health officials will continue monitoring for 42 days from the passenger's departure from the cruise ship, per ADHS. The agency wouldn't say which county the person is in, citing privacy concerns.
• There's no indication that the person came into contact with any infected cruise-goers, Nicole Witt, the agency's assistant director for public health preparedness, told reporters during a briefing yesterday.

What they're saying: "The general public in Arizona does not need to be concerned," Witt said.

Zoom in: If hantavirus sounds familiar, it may be because Arizona has a unique history with the disease.

• Hantavirus had long been known in the Eastern Hemisphere but not in the western until 1993, when a newly discovered virus spread in the Four Corners region.
• Since then, strains have been discovered elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere.
• Witt emphasized that the Andes strain that afflicted the cruise ship is different from the hantavirus that's native to Arizona.

Threat level: The Andes strain's risk to Arizonans is "exceedingly low" because public health officials are already tracking it, said David Engenthaler, executive director of ASU's Health Observatory and a former hantavirus epidemiologist who worked on the 1993 Four Corners outbreak.

• Outbreaks are usually relatively small and quick because they're easily contained once detected, he told Axios.
• That's good, because hantavirus is "still one of the deadliest viruses that we know," Engenthaler said, with a 30-40% mortality rate.
• There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments, but supportive care can improve survival chances, said Michael Worobey, head of the UofA College of Science's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

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Just when it looked like the stalemate might drag on indefinitely, Gov. Katie Hobbs and Republican legislative leaders restarted their stalled budget talks.

👀 The intrigue: Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) said on KTAR yesterday morning that legislative leaders and the Hobbs administration would meet to discuss the budget later in the day.

• It was the first budget meeting between the two sides since Hobbs ended negotiations in late March.
• Petersen said he believes the budget is "97% of the way there" but "we're going to have to find some compromise" to get Hobbs on board.
• Hobbs told KTAR later that day that the two sides had met, "so hopefully we're going to see that moving forward."

🥊 Inside the fight: Hobbs ended budget talks over Republicans' refusal to negotiate the renewal of Proposition 123.

• In mid-April, she announced that she'd veto new bills until Republicans publicly presented a new budget plan.
• Senate Republicans on Monday gave final approval to their $17.9 billion budget plan — about $800 million less than the governor's proposal — which Hobbs vetoed Tuesday.

👋 The House adjourned until June 1 after sending Hobbs its budget, and Senate Republicans will do the same Monday, Petersen said.

• Senate GOP spokesperson Kim Quintero noted there's little point in voting on legislation unless Hobbs lifts her bill moratorium.
• The chambers can be called back anytime with 72 hours notice if a budget deal is reached.

What we're watching: Hobbs didn't actually end the moratorium when Republicans unveiled the budget she'd asked for, and it's unclear when or under what conditions she will.

• Spokesperson Christian Slater didn't respond to a message from Axios.

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💻 Canvas, an online platform used by thousands of schools to access courses and submit school work, is down following a cyberattack yesterday. ASU, NAU and Mesa Public Schools were among the institutions affected. (12 News)

🏫 The Peoria Unified School District board replaced Heather Rooks as president, citing her public statements pertaining to an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by two teachers with a student. (KJZZ)

🚱 Tucson cut off water for construction of the controversial Project Blue data center. (Tucson Sentinel)

A runner died Tuesday while competing in the Cocodona 250 ultramarathon that begins in Black Canyon City and ends in Flagstaff. (KTAR)

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