Arrival of hantavirus-ridden MV Hondius cruise ship revives COVID flashbacks in Canary Islands: I dont think we can cope
Anxious residents in the Canary Islands say the pending arrival of the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius is reviving flashbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic – with some fearing the archipelago will “not be able to cope.” Fears are rising in Tenerife — the Canary Islands’ largest island — that the Andes hantavirus strain could spread once passengers disembark the vessel and hospitals could be overwhelmed just as they were in 2020, the Independent reported. Locals are equally bewildered by the Madrid government’s allowing the MV Hondius, which has a 40 percent mortality rate, to dock in the Canary Islands despite the staunch opposition demonstrated by the islands’ president.“I thought, ‘Why us?” intensive care nurse David Hernández, 29, told the outlet.“This is bringing back flashbacks of the Covid-19 pandemic.We had a terrible time in the hospital then.”Candelaria, a cleaner in Tenerife’s north port town Santa Cruz, echoed those concerns.“It’s not right that [the boat] is stopping here, the passengers should just be sent straight back to their countries,” she told the BBC. “They could infect us.
It’s like the pandemic.”Tenerife has seen significant population growth since 2020 – largely due to an influx of foreign migration.Hernández admitted how the combination of population growth and potential clusters of cases could stretch infrastructure.“The population on the island has grown by about a million on the island since the pandemic and we have the same 24 beds in the intensive care unit.I don’t think we can cope,” he said.“We have been overcrowded for years.
It is getting crazy.”A nurse told the Reuters news agency, “It will be just like Covid… people are worried about their children, elderly relatives and the vulnerable.”World Health Organization officials have stressed the risk to the public remains low – but locals are baffled as to why the Canary Islands have been chosen as the ship’s destination.�...