RFK Jr. orders continued hantavirus quarantine of American woman despite CDC advice

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An American passenger exposed to the hantavirus on a cruise ship was ordered to remain in quarantine in Nebraska against her will and despite a federal medical review recommending she could leave.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signed an updated order Monday to continue keeping Angela Perryman isolated in quarantine at a facility in Nebraska, even though a review from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said she should be allowed to quarantine in Florida under minimal supervision.

Kennedy and other health officials in the Trump administration have been outspoken advocates for health freedom and highly critical of the COVID-19 public health mitigation measures enacted during the Biden administration.

In an interview, Perryman, 47, said she felt betrayed and lied to. She wasn’t aware of Kennedy’s latest order until it was slipped under her door on Monday.

Perryman said that health officials previously told passengers that they would be able to leave federal quarantine by the end of May and spend the rest of their 42-day quarantine under home supervision.

According to a May 18 quarantine order signed by acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya, passengers were to be held in quarantine through May 31 because the agency determined they were most at risk of developing symptoms during the first 21 days of the virus’s incubation period.

“I viewed public health the way you’re supposed to, that they’re working with you to try to keep everyone safe, and if they tell you something, they’re not going to just lie,” Perryman said. “It was stressful to stay there even during the voluntary period, but I felt like I could do this if it might possibly make the community safer.”

Perryman was one of 18 Americans who were on a cruise ship that became the center of a hantavirus outbreak in April. The passengers were flown back to the United States on May 11 and quarantined at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Neb.

However, an additional 19 Americans had disembarked the ship earlier, before officials knew of the hantavirus outbreak. They were not forced into a quarantine facility and instead were monitored at home.

Perryman, who has had no symptoms of the virus since she left the ship, said she requested a medical review that could allow her to return to Florida. Perryman said she had rented an Airbnb for her quarantine, as she does not have a home in the state, only a room in a shared house.

The review was conducted by the Dr. Michael Bell, the quarantine medical reviewer for the CDC.

In a document dated June 11, Bell recommended the quarantine order be rescinded to allow Perryman to return to her home for the remainder of the 42-day quarantine period.

“The intent of the quarantine order is to ensure that members of the public are not unwittingly exposed to an individual that might move through the community while infectious with Andes virus. The intent of the order can be effectively and less restrictively met with home quarantine combined with direct or remote monitoring,” Bell wrote.

Her return was contingent upon the Florida Department of Health agreeing to accept remote symptom monitoring once daily, and access to 24-hour assistance from a public health authority “in the event she develops symptoms.”

“In my professional judgment, this less restrictive alternative is adequate to protect public health,” Bell wrote. “This is a reasonable and efficient approach that is consistent with the level of transmission risk associated with Andes virus infection. It is also consistent with the ongoing management of several other exposed individuals from the M/V Hondius.”

As part of its terms for home monitoring, CDC required state and local health departments to ensure 24/7 oversight and monitoring for fever, symptoms and health status at least twice daily in person, carried out by a community health worker.

Five passengers were permitted to return to their home states. According to federal officials, all states that received repatriated passengers from the M/V Hondius accepted the conditions imposed by CDC, except Florida.

“Secretary Kennedy specifically considered the medical recommendation before deciding to continue the current order consistent with Director Bhattacharya,” HHS spokeswoman Courtney Spencer told The Hill.

“In the absence of proper home monitoring by state authorities, the Administration’s quarantine order is necessary to ensure both Ms. Perryman’s and her community’s wellbeing,” Spencer added.

The Andes virus has a 40 percent case fatality rate, and a known incubation period of up to 42 days during which anyone exposed can become symptomatic and transmit it to others.

In his medical review, Bell conceded that Perryman could still be in the incubation period, and still could develop symptoms and become contagious. However, he wrote that the likelihood of that happening “is progressively decreasing, changing the relative benefit of restrictive federal quarantine requirements.”

Perryman said she considers herself to be a detainee because she is not allowed to leave the facility.

Officials take her temperature twice a day and provide her with food on request. She can also request access to a rooftop for about an hour each day, with three other people at a time, under the watch of armed guards.

“We still don’t touch each other, but we do actually see each other. The other 23 hours a day I am confined to this room,” Perryman said.

Perryman said she now expects her quarantine period will end Sunday. Federal officials booked her a commercial flight to Florida.

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Jay Bhattacharya

Joe Biden

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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