How The U.S. Is Making The Same Mistakes With Hantavirus As It Did With COVID-19

InnovationHealthcareHow The U.S. Is Making The Same Mistakes With Hantavirus As It Did With COVID-19ByOmer Awan,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Dr. Omer Awan is a practicing physician who covers public health.Follow AuthorMay 13, 2026, 02:12pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.OMAHA, NEBRASKA - MAY 11: The Davis Global Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus, which holds the National Quarantine Unit, is seen on May 11, 2026 in Omaha, Nebraska. The cruise ship MV Hondius, which had three passengers die from Hantavirus last month arrived on Sunday May 10 in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, Spain, where the remaining passengers were repatriated to their respective countries. 16 American passengers, none of whom were experiencing Hantavirus symptoms, were brought to the National Quarantine Unit at the Omaha-based University of Nebraska Medical Center to be isolated and monitored. (Photo by Dylan Widger/Getty Images)Getty ImagesThe United States may be facing a familiar public-health pattern; mistakes that should have been learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. While the current Andes hantavirus situation is far smaller and less concerning than COVID-19, several warning signs suggest the U.S. public health response is repeating familiar mistakes— slow diagnostic deployment, inconsistent containment strategies and fragmented public communication. The scale is much different, but the structural lessons feel strikingly similar.The Testing Gap: PCR AvailabilityOne of the most glaring failures of the early U.S. COVID-19 response was delayed and inadequate testing. In early 2020, testing bottlenecks blinded public health officials to community spread. While countries like South Korea began testing 10,000 individuals daily from January of 2020, the U.S. was slow to begin rolling out tests. Early testing is necessar...