GGD trusts Hondius passengers to follow quarantine rules; will not check compliance
GGD will not check whether the Hondius passengers are adhering to quarantine, RTL reports. That is because the health service, together with the RIVM, is not concerned about the group failing to follow the rules.
"After all, those involved have experienced firsthand what the impact of an infection can be. We trust that, with the right information, people will know what to do and what is allowed," a GGD spokesperson told RTL. They also said that the organization does not expect people to lie about whether they are quarantining.
The plane with 26 passengers, including 8 Dutch, arrived at Eindhoven Airport around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. The group was evacuated from Tenerife after the cruise ship MV Hondius arrived there. Approximately 150 people were on board. While the ship was on the way from Argentina to Cape Verde, several people on board fell ill with hantavirus. Three died, including a Dutch couple from Friesland and a German woman. One more person remains under intensive care in South Africa.
The eight Dutch were tested for hantavirus upon arrival and must now remain in home quarantine for 42 days and have daily contact with the GGD. The people can take walks outside occasionally, provided they wear face masks and keep a distance of 1.5 meters from others, RIVM said. Those who do not live alone must avoid live interaction and sharing spaces with their partners or roommates.
"During other outbreaks, such as tuberculosis, similar measures are taken, and those experiences show that those involved adhere to the measures very well," says the RIVM spokesperson.
The RIVM reiterated that hantavirus is not as contagious as the flu or coronavirus. "It can only be transmitted at very close range and through fairly intensive contact. A cruise ship is a unique setting in that regard, especially now that sick people have been treated on board."
Public Health Minister Sophie Hermans told NOS earlier, “I expect that people getting off that ship will realize, 'I might have this, and I am not going to run the risk of infecting others,'" she said, stressing how serious the virus can be. “Three people have died from it, and you can get very sick from it.”
