Kennedy orders woman to remain in hantavirus quarantine despite CDC recommendation
A cruise ship passenger who was exposed to hantavirus in early May is still being held at a quarantine facility in Nebraska, against her will and against the recommendation of a medical evaluation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a staunch supporter of medical freedom, signed an order continuing to quarantine 47-year-old Angela Perryman, even as others held at the facility have been allowed to return to their homes since May 31 if they wish.
In a telephone interview with The New York Times, Ms. Perryman, who tested negative for the virus and says she has no symptoms, expressed her anger and frustration. She said she learned of Mr. Kennedy’s decision when a copy of his order was slipped under the door to her room.
After a hearing challenging her quarantine order, Dr. Michael Bell, the CDC’s quarantine medical assessor, said Thursday that Ms. Perryman would be allowed to return home for the remainder of her 42-day quarantine, with once-daily remote symptom monitoring and access to 24-hour help “in the event that she develops symptoms.”
“In my professional judgment, this less restrictive alternative is sufficient to protect public health,” wrote Dr. Bell in the review.
Angela Perryman.Credit…Angela Perryman
“This is definitive evidence that there is no checks and balances under the Public Health Act on essentially indefinite detention,” Ms Perryman said.
The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment.
Ms. Perryman is one of 18 passengers who were on a cruise ship that became the center of a hantavirus outbreak that killed three people, sickened several others and unsettled people around the world. They were flown back to the United States on May 11 and quarantined at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska.
The passengers were originally scheduled to return to their own states, but were then ordered to remain in Omaha until at least May 31. Ms. Perryman publicly challenged the order.
“I think this is blatant malice and retaliation,” she said Monday.
Some passengers were allowed to quarantine at home until June 22, or for 42 days, provided local health authorities committed to having them monitored by a police or community health worker. Ms. Perryman was one of 10 passengers still in Omaha, she said, but the only one being held against her will.
Ms. Perryman lives temporarily in Florida and wanted to quarantine there. However, according to Steven Hyman, Ms. Perryman’s lawyer, Florida refused to comply with the government’s requests.
But now Mr. Kennedy’s order to keep Ms. Perryman in Omaha “contradicts the medical examiner’s findings,” Mr. Hyman said.
At the Omaha facility, officials take Ms. Perryman’s temperature twice a day and provide her with food upon request. She can also request access to a rooftop for about an hour each day under the supervision of armed guards.
“They are polite and do not use physical violence against me, but other than that it is a prison,” she said.
