OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Five of the 18 American cruise ship passengers who have been staying at a national quarantine facility in Nebraska after being exposed to hantavirus are going home, U.S. health officials said Monday.
The five people will complete their monitoring at home after remaining symptom-free and meeting criteria for monitoring outside the quarantine unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
They are leaving Omaha about three weeks after they and the 13 other Americans arrived in Nebraska following a deadly outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship traveling in the South Atlantic Ocean.
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.
A total of 13 confirmed or probable hantavirus cases, including three deaths, have been linked to the ship, according to the World Health Organization.
No Andes virus cases have been confirmed in the U.S., and the risk to the public remains low, health officials said.
None of the U.S. passengers has shown any symptoms, a spokesperson for Nebraska Medicine said Monday.
Symptoms of hantavirus have taken as long as 42 days to appear in previous outbreaks, but some medical experts say most people who develop symptoms do so within 21 days.
The doctors in Omaha monitoring the passengers had said previously that they would work with each person individually to determine if it was appropriate for them to go home to finish their recommended 42-day quarantine period.
Federal officials arranged travel for the five people going home, in coordination with state and local authorities. Officials said the travel was not to be on commercial flights, with appropriate biocontainment measures in place. State health departments will continue daily symptom monitoring, maintain 24/7 oversight and provide guidance.
Two of the people returning to their homes live outside New York City, said city Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin.
One of the remaining passengers, Jake Rosmarin, posted on his blog Sunday that he plans to stay at the Omaha unit for his final three weeks of quarantine because he would have immediate access to care if he gets sick and he doesn’t want to risk unnecessarily exposing anyone else.
Rosmarin, who posts daily updates about his experience, said he’s not judging anyone who decided to go home.
“For me personally, this experience has been incredibly traumatic," Rosmarin said. “I don’t think I’ve fully processed everything yet, and right now I don’t want to leave until I know there is no risk of me getting sick or putting my family, friends, or the general public at risk.”
Not everyone quarantined in Nebraska has been happy about it. About a week after the 18 arrived, U.S. health officials issued quarantine orders forcing two passengers who wanted to leave to stay there.
Stobbe reported from New York.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The MV Hondius cruise ship arrives at the Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands, Monday, May 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Passengers are being disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rick Adelman, a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee who played for seven NBA seasons before becoming one of the game's all-time winningest coaches, has died, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced Monday.
Adelman, the father of Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman, was 79. The cause of his death was not immediately announced.
Rick Adelman won 1,042 games as an NBA coach, 10th-most in league history. Only four other coaches — Pat Riley, Gregg Popovich, Jerry Sloan and George Karl — coached more games and had a better winning percentage than Adelman, who took the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA Finals twice and also was head coach in Sacramento, Houston, Minnesota and Golden State.
“Adelman will be remembered not only as a coach and a player, but also as a mentor to so many in the basketball community,” read a statement from the coaches' association, which honored Adelman with its Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023.
“Rick Adelman’s NBA coaching career has been highlighted by innovation, integrity and excellence,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said when the NBCA presented that award three years ago. “His teams always played to their strengths, and Rick always found subtle ways to reinvent NBA basketball to help his players thrive. His quiet, unassuming nature belies his impact as one of the great NBA coaches of all time.”
Adelman also played in the NBA from 1969 through 1975 as a point guard for five different teams — but found his calling as a coach.
The Kings, in paying tribute, said Adelman “will be remembered for the way he inspired those around him — with humility, integrity, kindness, and an unwavering belief in the power of teamwork."
Adelman's path to the NBA, as a coach, was unintentional.
He thought he would become a high school coach, though his lack of experience was a deterrent. He then started his coaching career at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon.
“We had great success there,” Adelman said in his Hall of Fame enshrinement speech. “The one thing I did not realize is Jack Ramsey was following my team.”
Ramsey was coaching the Portland Trail Blazers, and invited Adelman to interview when a position opened on his staff. Adelman worked under Ramsey for three seasons and Mike Schuler for 2 1/2 more, then took over as interim coach with 35 games left in the 1988-89 season.
“We had a team that was ready to win,” Adelman said in 2021.
Blazers owner Paul Allen told Adelman he could coach the 1989-90 season. The rest is history. Portland won 59 games that season with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey and Buck Williams leading the way, getting to the NBA Finals and falling to Detroit.
Adelman was off and running. He took the Blazers back to the NBA Finals two years later, falling then to Chicago. After his Portland era, Adelman coached two years at Golden State and then went to Sacramento — where he had eight winning seasons in an eight-year stint, with players like Vlade Divac, Peja Stojaković, Mike Bibby, Chris Webber, Jason Williams, Bobby Jackson and current Kings coach Doug Christie.
Adelman had 210 players appear in at least one NBA game for him.
“He actually challenged me and poured into trusting me," 20-year guard Kyle Lowry said Monday night. “That was important for me. He didn’t have to. He could have done everything else, he could have played other players, but he believed in me. ... He just trusted his players. He just wanted to win. And if it wasn't for him, I don't know what career I would have. It's a sad day.”
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FILE - Inductee Rick Adelman speaks during the 2021 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement ceremony, Sept. 11, 2021, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE - Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman, right, waves to the crowd as players applaud after he becomes the eighth coach in the NBA to win 1,000 games after defeating the Detroit Pistons in their basketball game, April 6, 2013, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
FILE - Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman celebrates a defensive rebound by Ricky Rubio in the second half of an NBA basketball game against Oklahoma City Thunder, March 29, 2013 ,in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
