Acting CDC Director Says Hantavirus Outbreak ‘Is Not COVID’

Bhattacharya said that hantavirus is ’very difficult' to contract and that person-to-person transmission is rare.

Passengers board a plane bound for Canada, after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, on May 10, 2026. AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez

The acting head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on May 10 that a hantavirus outbreak on a Dutch cruise ship “is not COVID,” suggesting that the virus, which normally spreads via rodents, won’t cause a pandemic.

“The key message I want to send to your audience is that this is not COVID, this is not going to have—lead to the kind of outbreak,” acting CDC Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told CNN’s “State of the Union” in response to a question about the hantavirus.