OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. health officials said Tuesday they have issued quarantine orders for two passengers from the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak who are now at a hospital in Nebraska.
The orders were signed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the CDC said in a statement.
Quarantine orders, which can be enforced with fines and prison time, are a rare legal step that can be taken if someone objects to a public health request. All 18 passengers at the Nebraska hospital had been asked to stay at the facility through May 31, part of their monitoring period, according to the CDC.
On a call with reporters, the CDC's Dr. David Fitter said there were no hantavirus cases among the returned U.S. passengers.
But symptoms of hantavirus have taken as long as 42 days to appear in previous outbreaks, said Jodie Guest, senior vice chair of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
“I'm certain that 42 days is starting to feel very long for those who are in quarantine, but the incubation period is what is setting that time period,” she said.
The CDC statement said three additional cases of hantavirus have been identified — one each in France, Spain and Canada — since the passengers left the ship.
The World Health Organization said last Wednesday that a total of 11 hantavirus cases linked to the cruise have been reported, including three deaths. Eight cases have been confirmed by laboratory tests.
Hantaviruses usually spread when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. But the hantavirus that has caused the current outbreak, called the Andes virus, may be able to spread between people in rare cases. The risk to the general public from the cruise ship outbreak is low, according to public health officials.
People in protective gear remove waste from the MV Hondius cruise ship after its arrival at the Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands, Monday, May 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia's quarterly results surpassed Wall Street's expectations once again, fueled by massive demand for its high-end AI chips.
The company said Wednesday it earned $58.32 billion, or $2.39 per share, in the February-April period, up from $18.78 billion, or 76 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, Nvidia earned $1.76 per share.
Revenue jumped 85% to $81.62 billion from $44.01 billion.
Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.75 per share and revenue of $78.91 billion, according to a poll by FactSet. Nvidia's results have exceeded the analyst projections that shape investors’ perceptions since Nvidia’s high-end chips emerged as AI’s best building blocks three years ago.
“The buildout of AI factories — the largest infrastructure expansion in human history — is accelerating at extraordinary speed,” said CEO Jensen Huang in a statement.
Along with higher profit and revenue, however, Nvidia's operating expenses increased by 49% to $7.75 billion.
For the current quarter, Nvidia forecast revenue of about $91 billion. Analysts are forecasting $87.29 billion.
Despite the solid results and outlook, many investors still evidently are worried about a comedown after a three-year boom that has seen Nvidia’s market value soar from $400 billion at the end of 2022 to $5.4 trillion as of Wednesday.
Shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company dipped slightly after-hours to $222.12 after closing at $223.47 in the regular trading session.
“Time and time again, (Nvidia) obliterates expectations and consensus; it delivered exactly on what people wanted, especially regarding data centers,” said David Wagner, head of equity and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors. “But the market doesn’t always act as you would expect after a strong report like this one.”
The company also announced plans to return some money to shareholders. It authorized a plan to buy back $80 billion worth of stock and increased its quarterly cash dividend to 25 cents per share from 1 cent.
CEO of NVIDIA Jensen Huang signs a DELL machine at Dell Technologies World event happing in Las Vegas on Monday, May 18, 2026 (AP Phot/Ty ONeil)
