NEW YORK STATE (WRGB) \u2014 CBS6 anchor Lara Bryn sat down for a one-on-one interview with the New York health commissioner just days after state health officials confirmed three New Yorkers who were exposed to hantavirus aboard a Dutch cruise ship are being held in quarantine in Nebraska. They have not shown symptoms so far.<\/p>\n
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said the three are among 18 Americans who were exposed on the ship. They are being monitored at a quarantine center in Nebraska, and McDonald confirmed that the \u201cmonitoring\u201d is, in fact, a quarantine. McDonald said the three New Yorkers are asymptomatic and will remain in Nebraska for 42 days, which he said is the incubation period for hantavirus.<\/p>\n
McDonald said that once the quarantine period ends, the travelers would not face restrictions on travel. \u201cSo if they come back after June 22nd, after the quarantine\u2019s completed, they can do whatever they want to do,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cThey\u2019re free to roam about the country and the world at that time, because the quarantine is over. In other words, the incubation period is past. So there\u2019s no risk at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the travelers could choose to return to New York before the quarantine period ends, but officials are advising against it. \u201cOur strong recommendation is they stay in Nebraska,\u201d McDonald said.<\/p>\n
If they do return early, McDonald said they would not fly commercially. \u201cBut were they to choose to come back, they would come back through non-commercial air,\u201d he said, adding that the CDC would arrange transportation to an airport, and New York would then coordinate travel to wherever they would complete their monitoring period. \u201cAnd then we would have to make sure that we talk to them every day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n