The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has officially ended its response to the hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on June 24. The 42-day monitoring period for the 18 American passengers concluded on June 21, with no hantavirus cases reported in the United States.

The outbreak, caused by the rare Andes virus strain typically found in Argentina and Chile, killed three people aboard the cruise ship that departed from Argentina on April 1. The World Health Organization reports 13 total cases and more than 650 contacts identified and traced across 33 countries, with the last quarantines set to end July 2.

However, significant questions remain about the Trump administration's use of unusually strict quarantine measures. According to Ars Technica, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. overruled the CDC's own expert — Captain Dr. Beth Bell — who had recommended that passenger Angela Perryman be allowed to return to her Florida home under remote monitoring. Bell wrote that Florida's proposed once-daily remote symptom checks were "a reasonable and efficient approach." Four days later, Kennedy signed an order extending Perryman's forced stay in a federal quarantine unit in Nebraska with no explanation.

At a CDC press briefing this week, officials dodged all questions about why the draconian protocols were imposed, saying only that it was a "complex response" and that "a decision was made across the federal government."

Sources: Ars Technica, Al Jazeera