Warnings to stay home and social distance to avoid getting or spreading a dangerous virus may be burned into our collective memory of the COVID pandemic. But that’s nothing compared with the quarantine protocols that the 18 Americans who were exposed to hantavirus on a cruise ship are currently experiencing.
That’s what Jake Rosmarin, one of the passengers who was onboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship on which several passengers became infected with or killed by a deadly hantavirus called the Andes virus, is currently doing.
Rosmarin, a Boston-based travel content creator, has traveled the world and visited all seven continents. He had been on several previous cruises with Oceanwide Expeditions before the MV Hondius voyage, which visited some of the most remote islands in the South Atlantic before it became a floating nightmare.
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Now, kept in an isolated, airtight facility with extremely limited contact with other people, Rosmarin has been posting videos on social media that chronicle his experience, first onboard the ship and now in the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Neb., where he is about a week into a mandatory quarantine that could last up to 42 days.
The isolation, Rosmarin says, is nothing like staying home during COVID—he can’t even open a window: “It’s crazy to me to think that I could be in this room for 42 days and literally not get to breathe fresh air,” he says.
Scientific American spoke to Rosmarin on May 15. From his quarantine room, he talked about what the facility has been like, what the health and safety procedures have been and how he’s been making the best of his situation.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
Tell us a bit about who you are and how you came to be on this cruise.
I went on my first trip with Oceanwide Expeditions in January 2023. Before the end of that year, I started a partnership with them where they would send me on trips, and I kind of would talk about these trips and promote the company. One of the trips I proposed was this Atlantic Odyssey trip, because it visits some of the most remote islands in the world. I flew out on March 29 and departed on the ship on April 1. [It was to be] a five-week expedition visiting South Georgia Island, Tristan da Cunha, Nightingale Island, Gough Island, Saint Helena, Ascension Island [all parts of British overseas territories], and then we were supposed to end at Cape Verde.
How did you first become aware of the sick passengers? And when were you told that this might be hantavirus?
We were informed pretty quickly when each issue occurred. When the first passenger died, I think he might have passed away in the middle of the night, and we found out in the morning. And who would think it’s hantavirus? It’s such a rare disease that it was not in anyone’s thoughts.
After departing Saint Helena, we found out that there was another medical emergency [and that] we were going to have to make a stop at Ascension Island. Around the same time, we found out about the [first dead passenger’s] wife passing away. My first thought was that she passed away from a broken heart. So still nothing suspicious.
Things started to get a little weird when we found out that there were three ill people on the ship and then definitely a little more weird when that third person passed away.
So the ship’s crew didn’t immediately tell you it was hantavirus?
They didn’t know. We didn’t find out until that first test result came back from Johannesburg, which was 24 to 48 hours before we were supposed to get off that ship. Overall, the company really did handle it well. And I think what a lot of people didn’t realize is: once we found out all this stuff was happening and once the World Health Organization [WHO] and international governments got involved, it was out of the company’s hands.
You were somewhere off the coast of Cape Verde at that point, right? And is it correct that the local authorities didn’t want to allow the ship to dock?
They were supposed to allow the ill passengers to get off the ship. Morning comes around, and we find out that they’re not cooperating. And that’s when I ended up making my video, which was very emotional because I was scared that we were in this really tough position and “If a government’s not going to help us, how are we getting out of this?”
What was it like being on the ship once you knew that, potentially, a deadly, nasty virus was spreading onboard?
I was scared. The first thing I thought when I found out it was hantavirus was like, “What is hantavirus?” And I looked it up. And we all know that when you find out something medically, you should never look it up because you’re always going to see the worst thing possible. So I got more scared. And then I basically didn’t leave my cabin again until we got off that ship. I mean, I left, but I spent minimal amounts of time outside of my cabin. It was basically seven days that I was almost completely confining myself because there were no strict quarantine measures. There were just recommendations on staying in your cabin more and, when you’re out, wearing a mask and social distancing.
It was very traumatic. What was scarier was: I knew that this virus had a much higher [mortality] rate [than COVID].
How was the evacuation process and repatriation in Nebraska?
It was pretty smooth. The way that we were got off the ship, I think one of the slow things was them trying to figure out how to get that little boat we were on, if you saw it in the news, to get it roped up so we could get off. That took a little longer than I was expecting. We were only able to take a tiny little bag. And I prioritized my electronics because there were still memories and clothes are easy to replace.
The flight was crazy—I mean, like straight out of a movie, seriously—like hazmat suits, basically. [The passengers] didn’t have to [wear them]. We were just in our KN95 masks. We landed at 2:30 in the morning Central Time, and I was in my quarantine room around 5:30 [A.M.]
I can see your room behind you, and I like your posters up in the background.
Thank you. Yes, I’ve been decorating. I want it to look like an apartment and not like a hospital room.
Is it basically like a standard hotel room, with the addition of HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters and negative pressure?
The bed felt more like a hospital bed at first, even though it wasn’t a true hospital bed, just the way the sheets and stuff and pillows were. And the color and everything on the floor feels very hospital. But yeah, I would say it’s like a bare-bones hotel room maybe. And now it’s starting to feel, with my new bed sheets and a weighted plushie and new blankets, it feels more like an apartment.
I have two Aura [digital photograph] frames now in my room, so people can send me photos and things like that. I have a whole coffee/tea corner with an espresso machine that a friend sent me. So I’m really making myself at home here.
Are you there voluntarily, or is it a mandatory quarantine?
Right now we’re still in the assessment period. I think they’re working on seeing if … people who want to can do at-home isolation. And that would mean being privately transported from this facility directly to wherever you would self-isolate—there would be no interaction with anyone. I don’t know what final decisions are going to be made on what the options are. But I knew before we even got here that there would be an option to stay the full time. And that is the decision that I made.
But they didn’t say you’re free to go if you want to?
No, definitely not.
One of my main reasons I want to stay here is because if [I were infected], there’s no better place to be in terms of medical care. That first symptom, I can start getting help. If I was in a basement or something, and I started getting sick, I don’t know how quickly I’d be able to get help because wherever I’d be going to be getting help, they would need to prepare for my arrival.
What’s a typical day like for you?
In terms of what we need to do, it’s a daily morning temperature check, evening temperature check and an afternoon town hall. And that’s usually about it. [Earlier that first week] is when we got our blood work done for PCR testing and antibody testing. I think we will be given the option to get the PCR done weekly. However, you may know that the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and the WHO both recommend that you don’t get PCR tested unless you have symptoms, but what’s nice about being here is that we do have access to it. And I think, for the PCR test, you can show up as positive a few days before symptoms.
[For my own routine] I make my iced latte in the morning. We have a fridge, so I have ice trays in there to make myself ice. And I’m really just trying to make myself, like I said, feel at home and kind of get into a routine. And once I do that, I think the time will fly by, hopefully.
What is discussed in the town hall meetings?
Today they mentioned maybe we could get bird feeders outside our window so we could look at birds and things like that. And I think it was [at] yesterday’s town hall [that] they brought up what happens if there’s a tornado warning because we are in the Midwest.
I’m assuming the town hall is virtual?
Yeah, correct. There is no in-person meeting. The only time people came in my room so far was when they first got here to show me in the room and then when I had to get a blood test.
Sometimes people come in my room, [and people ask], “Why is that allowed in a quarantine unit?” And I think what people have to realize is: it’s not like we’re Ebola patients. And we’re not people who are sick. We are staying here in the case that we do get sick during this incubation period. And I’m going to reiterate what we know about this virus: it’s not a virus that we don’t know—it’s not the virus that causes COVID.
How’s your mental health? Are you able to talk to friends and family?
Yeah, I talk to family and friends every day. I think there’s a psychologist available if we want to talk to someone. Obviously, I’m very public online, so I have gotten some hate, but I kind of learned to ignore it mostly. I let it get to me once in a while.
At the end of the day, I can sit in my bed all day and sulk and be sad and, you know, get depressed that I’m stuck in here—I don’t know if stuck is the right word—or I can try to make a positive spin on things, and that’s what I’m trying to do.
What’s the food like?
The food is kind of like hospital food but maybe a little better. Every day we order our food in the afternoon or evening for the next day. [This week] they’re getting food trucks where the nurses will be able to go down and get us really hot, fresh, cooked food, and DoorDash might be an option at some point.
Can you exercise?
I’m planning on getting on the [exercise bike in the room] this afternoon and getting a workout in. And someone invited me for a virtual workout class that I’m planning to do tomorrow morning.
Is this experience similar to your experience of the early days of the COVID pandemic?
I think the difference is: During COVID, I was in a household. I had my group of people. I was in an area of New York where I lived on a big property. So I was able to go out and do all these things or even get in a car and go on a drive. Now I’m stuck in a room. My window doesn’t open. I have no balcony. There’s no way for us to get fresh air. It’s crazy to me to think that I could be in this room for 42 days and literally not get to breathe fresh air.
Besides fresh air, what do you miss the most from the outside world, and what are you looking forward to doing when you get out?
I’m going to give you the same answer that I’ve given every single person, and it’s going to sound cliché, but getting to hug my fiancé and my family, that first hug is going to be the best thing in the world. It’s going to be like no other hug I’ve ever had.