Hanta Virus Origins; Moderna Announces New mRNA Vaccine; Cruisers Return Home

A cruise ship experiencing a massive viral outbreak was stranded at sea, with the passengers on board experiencing what was probably their worst vacation ever. The virus spreading on board, called the Hantavirus, is deadly. It has a mortality rate ranging somewhere from 30 to 50 percent, making it one of the most lethal viruses in the world. Evidenced by the fact that, unfortunately, aboard that one ship, over the course of just a few weeks, three people died. Let's go through all the details that are currently available right now, including where the virus likely came from, how it spread step by step, the geopolitical mess that the whole thing created with countries treating that ship like a hot potato, what's happening right now, as the passengers are in the process of flying back to over two dozen countries, as well as why we shouldn't worry, because Moderna is on the case with a brand new vaccine that they've apparently had in development for a little while now, which is not only great news for us, but it's especially great news for all the shareholders, because on that news, the stock price just popped off. Let's go through it all together right after you take a super quick moment to smash those like and subscribe buttons, which will force the YouTube algorithm to pick up this episode and share it out with ever more people. Thank you so much for that. Now, to start with, the ship in question is called the MV Handius. It's the world's first polar class six vessel, meaning that its hull, which is the structural bottom part body of the ship, is reinforced and strengthened to deal with ice. And so the Handius, it takes expeditions into polar environments. They go to the Arctic, they go to the Antarctic, and so on. They have a crew of about 70 people, as well as the capacity to hold about 200 passengers. In total, they have 82 cabins, meaning it's a big top-of-the-line ship perfect for exploring icy waters. Now, for its most recent expedition, the Handius left port out of Argentina carrying a total of 149 people. There were 88 passengers plus 61 crew members. The people on board, they were from 23 different nations. Now, the plan was for the ship to leave Argentina and go through the Atlantic towards the Canary Islands, making a few stops along the way in the Antarctic region. However, within just five days of departure, a 70-year-old Dutch man began to experience symptoms of sickness, things like fever, headache, diarrhea, as well as stomach pain. The symptoms, they progressed, they got worse, and he then began to experience respiratory distress. He couldn't breathe very well, and then sadly, within another five days, he was dead. The man died on board the ship, with the cause of death at the time not exactly being clear. The ship then continued its voyage. Then, after another 13 days of travel on April the 24th, the Handius stopped at a small island called St. Helena. It's a British territory in the South Atlantic, famous for being the place that Napoleon was exiled to. At St. Helena, the man's body, alongside his living 69-year-old wife, disembarked, and it was decided that they would be left there in order to work out the logistics of getting the man's body back to his home country of the Netherlands. The next day, the wife took an airplane flight alongside her husband's body over to South Africa. However, during that flight, the wife, her health suddenly deteriorated. She collapsed upon reaching the Johannesburg airport, and sadly, shortly afterwards, she died herself. This was on April 26th. The next day, which was April 27th, another one of the passengers aboard the Handius ship, he became seriously ill as well, experiencing fever, shortness of breath, as well as the symptoms of pneumonia. He was evacuated from the ship and sent over to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he remains in critical condition to this day. He's in the intensive care unit. And for your reference, this second man who got sick was of British nationality. Then, while he was in South Africa getting treated, the ship actually continued its voyage. Within another day, though, you had another man, this one of German nationality, began to experience serious symptoms as well. He developed fever as well as malaise. Those symptoms, though, they quickly intensified over the course of the next three days, and on May 2nd, this man was also dead, meaning that by the beginning of May, three of the original 88 passengers were dead, and more, unfortunately, were continuing to get sick. In another two days, two of the crew members required serious medical urgent care. The ship was anchored off the coast of West Africa, and three people were evacuated by specialist aircraft over to the Netherlands. This was done by operatives in just full-out hazmat suits. For your reference, by the way, the three people who were evacuated were the two crew members alongside a person who was associated with the German man who died, although as of now, it's not exactly clear whether it was his wife or his buddy who was on the ship, not exactly clear, but someone associated with the German man. Now, with all that as the backdrop, two things need to be examined here. First of all, how the virus broke out. Secondly, what is the actual next step for the passengers and the crew on board the ship? Now, in terms of the virus, it's not exactly clear how it made its way onto the ship. Hantavirus spreads among rodents mostly, like rats and mice, and not among humans. There is very little human-to-human transmission. A human might get infected by a rat or a mouse, but almost always the virus does not spread from that human to another human. The only known exception, though, the only documented case of human-to-human transmission of the Hantavirus was previously found in the countries of Chile as well as Argentina, the same Argentina that the ship sailed out of. So that might've been where it came from. However, that is really only speculation at this point because the incubation period for that virus is one to eight weeks. And so with so many passengers from so many different countries on board, it might actually take a while to track down where the virus ultimately originated from. However, just for your reference, in terms of the lethality, the virus, it can cause two severe illnesses. First, there's something known as Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, which just based on the symptoms we've been reading, it seems like that's what people have been developing. It starts as fever and muscle aches, followed by headaches, followed by stomach aches. And then lastly, if it develops to the symptoms of respiratory problems, the chance of dying at that point is 38%, according to the CDC. Then separately, you might develop something known as Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome, which can also kill you by causing a kidney failure. So obviously it's pretty bad, evidenced by the fact that three people have already died aboard that ship. Now, the remaining passengers and the crew, they become something like a global, geopolitical hot potato. As I mentioned earlier, the local health officials over at Cape Verde, they have been refusing to allow the passengers to disembark due to their justified concerns that the outbreak will spread to land. The Dutch company that operates the ship, they released a statement saying that their next plan is basically to sail over to the Canary Islands, like their original manifest had them planned to do, which will take an additional three days. The Spanish government then came out with a statement of their own saying that the Canary Islands was a good choice since it is the closest destination with the capacity to receive the ship. For your reference, the Canary Islands, they've been under Spanish rule since the 15th century, the tail end of the 15th century. And given the fact that several Spanish citizens are on board the ship, the Spanish government is taking it seriously. And in their statement, they added the following, quote, Spain has a moral and legal obligation to assist these people, among whom are several Spanish citizens. However, it's worth mentioning that it's not as simple as this statement would lead you to believe. The relationship between Spain and the Canary Islands, from my understanding, is very similar to the relationship between America and Hawaii in the sense that they're definitely one entity, but the island has its own considerations. And so along that line, you had the president of the Canary Islands strongly oppose the ship being docked there. Speaking to a Spanish language TV program from Brussels, here's what he said, quote, The people of the islands cannot rest easy because the risk to the Canarian population is clearly very real. The Spanish government made the decision without consulting the Canary Islands. He also brought up a good question, which is why exactly do the passengers have to be forced to make that three-day voyage from Cape Verde over to the islands? Quote, If the passengers are safe and healthy, it does not make sense that they have to come to the Canary Islands to be repatriated. They could do that from the international airport of Cape Verde. If we're thinking about the general interest of the passengers, what makes sense is to start doing this now. And he's not alone. The Tenerife Island Authority, Tenerife is one of the Canary Islands where the ship will probably dock. And they likewise came out and said they rejected the plan wholesale and that it was made without consulting the local government there. Now, from a purely power dynamic standpoint, it doesn't really matter. The Spanish government was able to push through and force that island to take the boat under international health routes. The Hondius was docked near the island and most passengers have been or are currently in the process of being repatriated. They're getting off the ship and are being flown back to their home countries. Remaining on board the ship are just 32 crew members who will sail the ship back to its home base over in the Netherlands. Now, the silver lining to the story, at least thus far, is that there have been no big recent outbreaks from these people returning home. Because the post-COVID world, we've all been a bit on edge right now watching these people leave this quarantine ship and fly to over two dozen countries across the whole globe. But thus far, at least, it's looking all right. There was a story out of New Jersey where two people claim to have been potentially exposed to the Hantavirus on board a plane, but it's not exactly clear what that's about, given the fact that they have not developed any symptoms as of yet. Two New Jersey residents may have been exposed to a person infected with Hantavirus. They were flying internationally when exposed to an infected person who had gotten off the MV Hondius. Neither of the New Jersey residents has Hantavirus symptoms. State health officials did not specify whether the New Jersey residents were on the same plane, saying only that they were not traveling on the cruise ship. That information came to us, by the way, from the New Jersey Department of Health, but they very much declined to give us any more details, saying that they need to protect the privacy of the passengers themselves. Also, there was a case over in Israel. Although, strangely enough, this case of a Hantavirus case in the country of Israel apparently had nothing to do with the cruise ship. And it's good to remember that in most cases, I guess aside from this one South American strain of the virus, it does not transmit from one human to another. Now, if all this talk of Hantavirus is getting you worried of another COVID-style global pandemic, this time, though, with a double-digit mortality rate virus, you should not worry because Moderna has your back. In fact, the company released a statement saying that they've been working on a Hantavirus vaccine for a little while now. It's also working with the Vaccine Innovation Center at Korea University College of Medicine on a potential immunization. The research began before the recent outbreak on the Dutch flag, Hondias. And interestingly, as it's mentioned here, this research on a Hantavirus vaccine predated the outbreak aboard the Hondias. But it's worth mentioning that the outbreak aboard the Hondias popularized this research, which then led to the Moderna stock price getting a nice 15% pop, followed by another 10% pop when more cases got confirmed aboard the ship. Although, as you can see on that graph, once the fears of this virus spreading further began to abate, the stock rally also began to abate. And so there you have it. If you'd like to read more about the current situation, as well as the current hunt that's happening in Argentina for the origin of this latest spread, I will throw my research links down into the description box below this video if you're the type of person that likes to dig into the weeds. And as more information comes out, I'll try to keep that description box updated with the latest links. So if you watch this video today or you happen to come across this video a week from now, the links in the description box should be current. And then, well, actually, if you appreciate that type of work that I do even after the video comes out, please, please, please do smash those like and subscribe buttons, which does really help the video reach ever more people. I would appreciate that. And then lastly, if you'd like to support the work that we do here at The Epoch Times while also educating yourself on the current state of the healthcare system here in America, well, you're in luck because we recently published a phenomenal documentary called Healthcare Decoded where we go through and we have a series of interviews with these excellent doctors, like the ones that are really tapped in and have taken the time to make themselves aware of the situation. And then they go on camera and explain it to you of the healthcare industry in the country, because there's sort of a juxtaposition, because on the one hand, we all know that the American healthcare system is the best. I mean, what's better than the American healthcare system? If you're a billionaire in Morocco, if you're a billionaire in Southeast Asia, basically, if you have the money, you travel to America to get your healthcare situation sorted out, to get the operations, we have the best surgeons, et cetera. So that's on the one hand. On the other hand, because as citizens of the country who have basically a birthright to the system, we know how convoluted it is. Even if you have insurance, perhaps, especially if you have insurance, it's a giant mess. It's basically a labyrinth to have to actually navigate. And the documentary does a good job of lifting the veil and actually giving you practical advice on how to navigate that labyrinth. So check it out. I'll throw a link to that documentary. You'll be able to find it down in the top of the description box below. Hope you check it out. And then until next time, I'm your host, Roman from The Epic Times. Stay informed, stay free. And perhaps for the foreseeable future, consider staying off of cruise lines.