As more than 40 Americans remain in quarantine — for up to six weeks — following a hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship, others who spent time in some of the country’s maximum-security medical isolation units during previous viral infections share what it’s like to endure weeks completely isolated from the outside world.
“I want people affected by this situation — those who are in quarantine or who have loved ones in quarantine — to know that they are in the best hands,” Dr. Kent Brantly, who spent weeks in isolation after contracting Ebola in 2014, told NBC News. “They are in the best possible place to receive medical care.”
The hantavirus outbreak has claimed the lives of three people and sickened 10 others since it was first identified aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship during its month-long voyage in early May. The 18 Americans traveling on the ship arrived in the national territory on Monday – after having spent several days confined to their cabins – to be transferred again to quarantine in facilities specifically designed to house people exposed to infectious diseases.
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Two of the patients were under observation at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta before joining the 16 others at the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha on Friday. None of the Americans have tested positive for the virus, although they could remain isolated for up to 42 days, the World Health Organization reported Friday.
Brantly is among the few Americans who can relate to the cruise passengers’ ordeal. After contracting Ebola during a mission in Liberia in 2014, he spent three weeks in the biocontainment unit at Emory University Hospital. This 11-bed unit, opened in 2005, has a dedicated laboratory and negative pressure rooms equipped with HEPA filters, which prevent pathogens from spreading outside of patient rooms.
As the first American Ebola patient to be treated at such a facility, Brantly remained in a “respectable-sized hospital room with its own bathroom,” set up for intensive infection control. He was monitored twenty-four hours a day, and a nurse, dressed in personal protective equipment, remained constantly at his bedside.
He was hooked up to monitors that recorded his vital signs and was given intravenous fluids; In addition, frequent blood draws were performed and he received an experimental treatment that, until then, had only been tested on animals.
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“The team of doctors who treated me were accomplished professionals and experts in their field, but they were also simply amazing people,” Brantly said. “I have every confidence that the team there, as well as the team at Nebraska, are fully prepared to handle a situation exactly like this.”
According to Brantly, once he began to regain his strength, the nurses guided him through physical therapy exercises from inside the room. To kill time, they played basketball together with a Nerf basket and spent hours talking about faith, family and life outside the hospital walls.
“Not only did they treat my medical condition, but they really took care of me holistically, as a person,” Brantly said. “They looked after my physical well-being, but also my emotional and mental well-being.”
More than a decade later, hantavirus-stricken cruise passengers are experiencing some of the same levels of confinement that Brantly remembers from his stay in Emory Hospital’s isolation unit.
Among them is Jake Rosmarin, a Boston-based social media content creator, who embarked on the Hondius for a “content creation work trip” and who, as of Monday, remains in the Nebraska National Quarantine Unit. This quarantine unit—the only one in the country financed with federal funds—has 20 individual rooms; Each one has a special air pressure system that introduces clean air inside. The complex’s biocontainment unit – located across the street – has the capacity to house up to 10 patients distributed in five rooms. Currently, one of those rooms is used as an internal laboratory.
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Since joining the unit, Rosmarin has offered an inside look at quarantine life via Instagram, sharing tours of her room, videos of her daily routine and recording the first sip of iced coffee she’s had in weeks.
Your room at the Omaha facility is equipped with a bed, a smart TV, and a stationary bike. The nursing staff serves him three meals a day; However, Rosmarin said he is allowed to order food delivery, including orders from Chipotle, something he told NBC News earlier this week he was looking forward to doing.
Since her arrival, Rosmarin has decorated one of the walls with posters of big cities, added a blanket and a stuffed animal to her bed, and has set up a corner to make tea on a piece of furniture. Thanks to care packages sent by her family, Rosmarin has been able to enjoy puzzles and a charcuterie and cheese board that she had to divide and store in zip-lock bags because it was too big to finish in one sitting.
In his most recent video, he is seen enjoying a freshly brewed vanilla iced latte in his own quarantine room, thanks to an espresso machine he has purchased.
“I could lie in bed, feeling discouraged and sad, thinking, ‘Wow, I’m stuck here for six and a half weeks,’ or I could tell myself, ‘Okay, they’re letting me do all these things, they’re taking good care of us, and they’re feeding us,’ and just start counting down the days until I get out,” he said. “If I don’t keep a positive attitude, what’s the point of all this?”
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That positive mindset could be key, given that Rosmarin plans to remain at the Omaha facility for the entire 42-day incubation period of the virus. So far, he has tested negative and feels fine, he said.
United States health authorities have urged those in quarantine to remain in medical facilities until that period expires; However, they have indicated that patients can leave and self-isolate at home if they wish.
“It is the best decision I can make, both for me, for my family and my friends, and, in general, for the public as a whole,” he said, referring to his decision to remain indoors until the end of June.
Like Brantly, he added that the staff who care for him have been “extraordinary,” meeting his every need at any time.
Carl Goldman, who spent a month in Omaha after contracting COVID-19 during a trip aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in February 2020, had a similar experience.
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After quarantining on the ship for two weeks, he and approximately 300 other Americans were repatriated to the United States on a special flight. It was during the flight when he began to show symptoms of the lethal virus.
For 10 days, Goldman was housed in UNMC’s biocontainment unit, a place he described as “straight out of a scene from the movie ‘The Andromeda Menace.'”
The “surreal” 20-by-15-foot room was double-sealed, and everyone who entered was required to wear a hazmat suit. Doctors gave him no medication, but he was given Gatorade constantly. Blue was better than purple, he commented.
He spent his time blogging about his experiences and pacing his tiny room, logging 10,000 steps a day. Although he could have dedicated all his time to giving media interviews, he said he was only allowed three a day.
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Once his symptoms subsided, he was moved to another room; At least 50 people lined the hallways and cheered him during the transfer. He remained there, in a room similar to Rosmarin’s, for another 20 days, until he left central Nebraska in mid-March 2020; She even celebrated her birthday with cupcakes and balloons given to her by the staff.
He didn’t have the opportunity to order takeout, but in an interview at the time, he mentioned that he fancied a steak from Omaha Steaks. Coincidentally, the owner of the company was watching the interview and subsequently delivered some steaks to Goldman.
“They cooked Omaha Steaks for everyone, for all the people; everything,” he recalled. “So we were able to eat a lot of meat, a real feast.”
Now, more than six years later, he still fondly remembers his time in Omaha and hopes the ship’s passengers who are currently quarantined “see the glass half full instead of half empty.”
“Save your memories, because they will be very memorable experiences, but keep in mind that stress is probably the worst thing you could inflict on your body right now,” he told NBC News. “Look at it as an extended vacation. That’s one way to look at it.”
