▶ Key Takeaways
- Hantavirus is a group of rodent-borne viruses, not a typical airborne pandemic virus.
- People usually become infected through exposure to infected rodents or contaminated dust from rodent urine, saliva, or droppings.
- More than 40 strains of hantavirus have been identified, but only one strain — the Andes strain originating in the Americas — has been known to be transferable from one person to another.
- Human-to-human transmission of the Andes hantavirus requires close, prolonged personal contact — such as between lovers, household members, or caregivers taking care of an infected patient.
- Human infections are rare but can be severe. The Andes hantavirus can cause Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (HCPS/HPS), which has a high fatality rate despite relatively few cases.
- Hantavirus infections are uncommon in the U.S. Since surveillance began in 1993, fewer than 1,000 cases of Andes virus have been reported.
- Hantavirus has an unusually long incubation period of up to 6 weeks. Initial Andes virus symptoms resemble flu-like illness: fever, headache, muscle aches, nausea, and abdominal symptoms.
- Once symptoms appear, shortness of breath, fluid buildup in the lungs, and cardiovascular collapse can occur within a few days.
- The recent cruise ship outbreak was linked to two passengers who were apparently infected during a bird-watching excursion in Argentina before they boarded the ship.
- Masks are not effective in preventing human transmission of hantavirus due to the extremely small diameter of hantavirus particles.
Fear spreads quickly.
Faster than facts.
And sometimes facts are hidden from the general public.
Sometimes the “experts” deliberately lie.
It happened during the COVID pandemic.
Now Americans are hearing terrifying headlines about a deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship.
Eight passengers became infected with the Andes strain of hantavirus…
And three died – one aboard the ship, and two after disembarking at stops during the cruise.
Some voices are already reviving the same panic-driven playbook followed during COVID:
- Wear masks
- Cover your face
- Mandate masks
- Trust the experts
In the past 12 months, other diseases have also made headlines, with doctors, scientists and researchers suggesting masks and mandates.
Others are saying hantavirus is not contagious and is not a pandemic threat.
Who’s telling the truth?
Who can you trust?
Here are 9 facts you need to know about facemasks, hantavirus and the latest outbreak:
- Facemasks will not prevent hantavirus transmission.
The pore size of a surgical mask typically ranges from 1 to 10 micrometers (µm), with most studies indicating an average effective pore size of about 2 to 5 µm for the filtration layers.
The pore size of an N95 respirator is 0.1 to 0.3 micrometers (µm).
The diameter of the single-stranded RNA hantavirus is so small that it is measured in nanometers (nm), not micrometers (µm).
One nanometer is equal to 0.001 micrometer.
There are three different shapes of hantaviruses originating in the Americas, including the Andes strain that was found on the cruise ship:[1]
- Round
- Tubular
- Irregular
The sizes of these virus particles range from 10 nm to 148 nm – which is equivalent to 0.01 to 0.148 µm.[2]
If you happen to have the very best N95 mask with a pore size of 0.1 µm, the mask will stop the largest Andes virus particles of 0.148 µm.
But if you avoid prolonged close contact with an infected person, you will be safe from infection without wearing a mask.
- Fear-mongers will try to convince you that masks will protect you from catching Andes hantavirus.
You will hear the catchphrase, “Studies show…that masks are effective…”
The truth is that 4 types of mask “studies” have been published, but only one is objective and useful.
The four types of studies you will encounter if you attempt to research mask efficiency are:
- Observational studies
- Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)
- Meta-analysis studies
- Lab-based studies
Observational studies are just that – based on observations of a specific group of people in a specific location.
They produce highly biased results due to personal conflicts of interest and biased funding sources.
Meta-analysis studies consist of a review of multiple studies of multiple types. They can sometimes provide some meaningful information.
However, there is always uncertainty about the accuracy of the individual studies, and how the researches combined the results into their review narrative.
Lab-based studies evaluate the effectiveness of a certain type of mask to prevent penetration of a specific pathogen size in a controlled environment.
These studies provide no useful real-world data.
Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) compare the infection rates of two groups – an experimental group that wears masks and a control group that does not wear masks.
This is the most objective, the most accurate, and the most useful type of study. It is also the most difficult type of study to conduct.
Very few RCT studies have been conducted over the years compared to the other types of studies.
- When mask mandates were issued during the COVID-19 pandemic, government officials knew that masks were ineffective.
Many studies showing the ineffectiveness of masks had been conducted during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, as well as during both epidemic and non-epidemic flu seasons up to 2016.[3]
It was well-known from these studies that masks didn’t prevent the transmission of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) or flu viruses.
Yet, as the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) reported in 2023, policymakers “used flawed observational studies” to convince people to wear masks.[4]
And PolitiFact, often cited to silence anyone who questioned mask mandates, declared in 2021, “Studies have consistently found that mask mandates cause sharp declines in coronavirus case rates.”[5]
Their so-called “fact check” was a scam – and a lie.
- Misleading mask studies are still being cited to encourage mask wearing in public places.
If you use a search engine to query specific studies regarding mask effectiveness in stopping the spread of Andes hantavirus and other viruses, you will be given anywhere between 50 and 100 studies.
But these are observational or lab-based studies that don’t reflect the real world.
And you won’t be told that the researchers and the studies are funded by the pharmaceutical industry or the government health agency – CDC and WHO – who are counting on the results they are looking for.
There is a definite conflict of interest favoring the institutional health care industry over the general public.
- The “placebo effect” is still causing people to wear masks even though the evidence says they don’t work.
Some states still encourage their citizens to wear masks in congested areas such as airports, bus and train stations, and shopping malls.
And it seems that more and more people are wearing masks again even in non-congested public areas.
I call it the “placebo effect.” People apparently are convinced in their own minds that masks help – in spite of evidence to the contrary – so it makes them feel better to wear a mask.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) is known worldwide as being the leading database for systematic reviews in healthcare and medical studies.
In 2023 the CDSR released a conclusive report on whether masks effectively stop or prevent respiratory viruses like COVID-19.
The report reviewed data from 78 separate studies, including 11 randomized controlled trials involving 610,872 participants.[6]
Dr. Tom Jefferson of Oxford University, one of the researchers, said at the conclusion of the study, “There is just no evidence that they [masks] make any difference.”[7]
The report also found two other unexpected facts:
- There is no measurable difference between surgical masks and N95 respirators in stopping leakage or penetration of an ARI – Acute Respiratory Infection.
- States and countries with mask mandates fared no better with infection rates than states and countries without mask mandates.[8]
In other words, masks don’t work. They do not stop viruses. They do not prevent infections.
- Encouraging or coercing people to wear masks is all about control.
Those who want us to wear masks tell us to “follow the science.”
It’s not about science, it’s about control.
Socialist, left-wing bureaucrats love to use any crisis to gain more government control over our lives.
These central planners believe they know what’s best for everyone— more than you do for yourself, your kids, and your family.
In their minds, the more the government controls the masses, the better.
More government control means less individual freedom for you and me.
But most people will give up their freedom if they fear for their lives. They would rather live as slaves in safety than have freedom and live in a dangerous world.
Which would you choose?
One in particular is Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, who has been studying and reporting on the adverse side-effects of viral vaccines for the past 25 years.[9]
She and others believe it’s all about control – and about depopulation.
Does truth still matter?
Do people still matter to each other?
How many will read the truth?
How many will believe the truth?
- What hantavirus is and what it is not.
Hantaviruses are a group of viruses carried by rodents.
Each hantavirus strain is associated with a specific rodent population in a specific location.[10]
Scientists have identified more than 40 strains of hantavirus worldwide.[11]
They are broadly divided into two groups:
- “Old World” strains found mainly in Europe and Asia
- “New World” strains found in the Americas
Despite the large number of hantavirus strains, infections in humans are relatively uncommon globally.
People are usually infected through direct contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings or saliva.
They become infected when contaminated particles become airborne and are inhaled.
Hantaviruses found in Europe and Asia cause haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).[12]
On these continents:
- The fatality rate from these strains of hantavirus is between 1% and 15%.
- Human-to-human transmission has not been documented.
In the Americas, hantaviruses can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS).[13]
The Andes virus – found in South America – is the only hantavirus confirmed to cause limited human-to-human transmission through close and prolonged contact.
The fatality rate from HCPS – a severe respiratory disease – can be as high as 50% – particularly in the elderly and among those with comorbidities.[14][15]
Despite the high fatality rate of HCPS, the probability of contracting this disease is low.
The World Health Organization says that human-to-human transmission usually occurs between:
- Intimate partners
- Household contacts
- Caregivers caring for infected patients over extended periods[16]
The Andes hantavirus is not contagious like the SARS-Cov-2 (COVID) virus.
It is not transmitted from one person to another unless they have prolonged intimate contact.
It doesn’t spread through brief encounters such as passing someone in public, or via short contact in open spaces.
The WHO has stated that the Andes hantavirus is not a pandemic threat.
- Reported cases of hantavirus in the U.S.
Hantavirus disease surveillance began in the U.S. in 1993 during an outbreak of an unknown severe respiratory infection in the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) became a nationally recognized and reported disease in 1995.[17]
In reexamining the 1993 outbreak, 33 cases of HPS were confirmed, resulting in 17 deaths.[18]
Nationwide that year, there were 48 cases and 27 deaths.[19]
As of the end of 2023, a total of 890 cases of hantavirus disease had been reported in the U.S. since 1993, resulting in 309 deaths.[20]
Recently this year, 7 cases and 3 deaths have been reported by public health officials in Arizona.[21]
In California, 5 residents were potentially exposed to Andes hantavirus during the cruise ship outbreak.
Currently, all five remain asymptomatic; none have tested positive for the virus.[22]
- What caused the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship.
The MV Hondius is a Dutch luxury expedition vessel that departed from Ushuaia, Argentina on a wildlife voyage through the South Pacific to Cape Verde.
The ship carried approximately 150 passengers and 26 crewmembers.
The number of passengers varied, as some joined the cruise and others disembarked at various stops along the cruise route.
Hantavirus has a long incubation period of up to 6 weeks.
Initial symptoms are flu-like:
- Fever
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain
- Nausea or vomiting
In Andes hantavirus, the disease can spread rapidly to severe cough, shortness of breath, fluid buildup in the lungs, and shock.[23]
The first to exhibit symptoms on the MV Hondius were a couple who had been bird-watching in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay prior to boarding the ship.
It is believed that they were infected prior to boarding the ship, but were not aware of their infection because they weren’t yet exhibiting symptoms.[24]
The husband began exhibiting symptoms first – and passed away 5 days later on the ship.
The wife became critically ill about two weeks later and was evacuated from the ship at St. Helena.
She died in Johannesburg two days after leaving the ship.
The cause of their deaths wasn’t identified as Andes hantavirus until later in the cruise – after passengers who may have had prolonged close contact with the infected couple had disembarked at two different stops.
What do you think? Email me at [email protected].
FAQs:
- What is hantavirus?
A. Hantavirus refers to a group of viruses carried by rodents. Human infection usually occurs after exposure to infected rodent urine, droppings, saliva, or contaminated dust particles that become airborne. - Is hantavirus contagious from person to person?
A. Most hantavirus strains are not transmitted between people. The Andes strain, found in South America, is the only hantavirus associated with limited human-to-human transmission. - How does Andes hantavirus spread between people?
A. Transmission requires extended close contact, such as between intimate partners, household members, or caregivers caring for infected individuals. - Is hantavirus a pandemic threat like COVID-19?
A. Andes hantavirus is not comparable to COVID-19 because it does not spread easily through casual encounters, public settings, or brief contact. - How common is hantavirus infection in the United States?
A. Infections are uncommon in the U.S. Since surveillance began in 1993, fewer than 1,000 cases have been identified nationwide. - What are the symptoms of Andes hantavirus infection?
Early symptoms often resemble influenza and may include:
- Fever
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Nausea or vomiting
- Abdominal discomfort
In severe cases, symptoms may rapidly progress to shortness of breath, lung fluid accumulation, and cardiovascular complications.
- How long is the incubation period for hantavirus?
A. Hantavirus can have an incubation period of up to six weeks, meaning symptoms may not appear immediately after exposure. - What caused the cruise ship outbreak?
A. The infections aboard the MV Hondius cruise were linked to two passengers who were believed to have contracted Andes hantavirus during bird-watching activities in South America before boarding. - Why are masks ineffective against Andes hantavirus transmission?
A. Hantavirus particles are extremely small compared with mask pore sizes. Even N95 masks are unlikely to stop transmission.
About Craig Huey:
Craig Huey is a longtime direct-response marketing strategist and publisher who focuses on the intersection of faith, politics, culture, and economic freedom. He is president of ElectionForum.org and the founder of Creative Direct Marketing Group (CDMG), where his team has tested thousands of marketing variables and earned more than 100 industry awards. Craig publishes commentary at CraigHuey.com and co-hosts media projects that equip Americans to understand what’s happening—and what to do next.
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6783877/
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full#CD006207-abs-0002
[4] Ibid.
[5] Dennis Prager, https://nsjonline.com/article/2023/03/prager-why-the-left-is-pro-mask/
[6] Cochrane Library, op.cit.
[7] Dennis Prager, op. cit.
[8] Ibid.
[9] https://drtenpenny.com. Or watch video here: https://www.vigilantfox.com/p/biowarfare-2025-plans-revealed-ft
[10] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hantavirus
[11] https://www.christianpost.com/news/hantavirus-cruise-outbreak-5-critical-facts-you-must-know.html
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news-item/2026-DON600
[16] https://www.christianpost.com/news/hantavirus-cruise-outbreak-5-critical-facts-you-must-know.html?page=2
[17] https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/data-research/cases/index.html
[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Four_Corners_hantavirus_outbreak
[19] Ibid.
[20] https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/data-research/cases/index.html
[21] Ibid.
[22] https://www.cdph.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR26-017.aspx
[23] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hantavirus
[24] https://www.christianpost.com/news/hantavirus-cruise-outbreak-5-critical-facts-you-must-know.html?page=5