Recently, global concern has been spreading over a strain of the Orthohantavirus, otherwise known as the Hantavirus, called the Andes virus.
Unlike COVID-19, this virus has less of a chance to spread. Orthohantavirus is spread via inhalation of virus-contaminated aerosols originating from infected rodents’ urine, feces or saliva. The Andes virus is the only type of hantavirus that is known to spread person-to-person.
However, it has a higher death rate, which has caused fear among Sequoia students, especially ones that have experienced the 2020 lockdown.
The first reported case of the Andes virus involved a 70-year-old Dutch man who fell sick when on cruise ship MV Hondius on April 6. He experienced symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and headaches. Sadly, he later died on April 11. After his passing, several passengers on the ship fell sick, which raised concerns about the virus spreading.
There were 146 people on the cruise ship from 23 different countries, which increased worries that the disease could spread globally if the passengers returned home. Due to this, strict health measures were put in place on the ship. Yet, several critically ill passengers were evacuated to Europe to receive better medical support.
As of May 10, the passengers on the cruise were finally allowed to leave and return to their countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been closely monitoring the situation to prevent another global pandemic.
“I’m not surprised that there’s another outbreak of some sort. We’ve had bird flu, we’ve had COVID, and this is just another iteration of some sort of potential outbreak,” IB Environmental Systems and Society teacher Ms. Yeung.
Yeung also reflected on how difficult the COVID-19 lockdown was for both staff and students.
“If we were to return to lockdown, I think we would lose even more teachers than we did post COVID the first time around, because it was really, really hard,” Yeung said.
On a personal level she shared how another lockdown would be challenging for her family.
“I would go crazy having to stay at home. The first pandemic I only had one kid. Now, I have two kids at home, and one of them has special needs. I would not be able to use the support services we rely on, like our behavior therapist, so all of that stress would fall on my shoulders,” Yeung said.
Moreover, Yeung discusses the potential impacts on students.
“I think the people who should be concerned are ones who either have a preexisting condition, who are elderly or who are infants,” Yeung said. “I’m just gonna hazard a guess that most Sequoia students are probably going to be okay.”
Additionally, Yeung hopes the world will be better prepared than it was during COVID-19, but is still hesitant based on current holdings of power. This is especially relevant given the United States (U.S.) withdrew from WHO on Jan. 22 of this year, raising concerns because this strips the U.S. of immediate access to global surveillance data, real-time contact tracing and collaborative virus-sequencing efforts.
“Hopefully we learned our lesson,” Yeung said. “Also, I hope that we have a stockpile of protective equipment somewhere and that people take it more seriously.”
Many students at Sequoia also shared concerns about the Andes virus and the impact it can have on everyday life.
Specifically, senior Kennedy Silva talked about all the misinformation that is being spread online about the virus, which is making people more fearful than they should be.
“At first, I was very concerned about the hantavirus with the human transmission, high death rate and global spread,” Silva said. “However, I also think there is some fear mongering with people worried that it’ll be worse than COVID-19 and that it will spread very easily.”
Silva also explained that although there have been cases of human transmission, it isn’t the same type of spread as COVID-19 because the virus requires close contact.
“Nevertheless, I still think it’s a virus we should all be concerned about and should do our research on instead of listening to everything online,” Silva said. “There’s still a lot scientists have to find out.”
Similar to Yeung, when discussing another possible lockdown, Silva stayed hopeful that the world would respond better this time.
“I’m nervous that we could go into a pandemic or lockdown if we don’t handle this correctly,” Silva said. “But since this virus is only acquired through prolonged, close contact, I’m confident the world won’t be faced with another pandemic.”
However, Silva did comment on the impacts the virus could have on students socially and academically.
“If society returned to lockdown, I feel as though our society would be in chaos and have to rebuild, most likely online,” Silva said. “That could cause a greater social media addiction and easier access to misinformation online.”
Silva also believes the impacts would be heavier on the younger classes, and less so on the seniors of Sequoia.
Moreover, Silva has hope that society and the world will have a better time handling the virus and another outbreak.
“Having been through a pandemic once before, I have hope that we will handle this one better,” Silva said. “I think people will take precautions more seriously because most of us don’t want to go through another pandemic that would severely impact our education and future goals.”