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AFP/GETTY IMAGES |
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Good morning. There is something about cruise ships. |
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In February 2020, the cruise ship Diamond Princess was quarantined off the coast of Japan for two weeks while global authorities struggled to figure out what to do with the hundreds of passengers who had contracted Covid-19. |
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It was a huge test for global health authorities, but ultimately wouldn’t matter. Covid by that point was spreading far beyond Asia. |
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Six years later, global health officials are focused on another cruise ship—this one called the MV Hondius—which officials believe might be connected to an outbreak of a hantavirus strain. There’s so far no indication that this will be anything like Covid, but it comes at a time when the dynamic between global health agencies has changed dramatically. There is traditionally a playbook for how to respond in situations like this. Has the playbook been rewritten? Is there a new one? |
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The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the CDC is coordinating with the World Health Organization to help contain the outbreak. This is notable because the U.S. earlier this year formally withdrew from the WHO under orders from President Trump. The CDC’s role in helping arrest this suspected outbreak will be a major test for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the White House and the Trump administration’s new approach to global health. |