Windsor Regional says no local hantavirus planning underway, risk to public remains low

A community meeting held by Windsor Regional Hospital on Thursday evening provided several community insights to operations.

As global health officials monitor a rare hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship, Windsor Regional Hospital says there have been no local planning discussions – and no alarm bells are ringing.

CTV News asked Windsor Regional’s chief of staff, Dr. Wassim Saad, whether hospital leadership has begun any internal conversations about the virus, following reports of several deaths and possible infections tied to the expedition ship MV Hondius.

“No, not at this time,” Saad said.

Saad said hantavirus is not behaving like a widespread respiratory threat and remains largely tied to rodent exposure.

“It’s really a zoonotic infection that’s transmitted through rodents,” he said.

“So, I think the risk in person-to-person transmission is very low.”

The World Health Organization has said the risk to the general public remains low, despite concerns over the Andean strain of hantavirus – a rare variant capable of human-to-human transmission in limited cases.

Saad said hospitals are prepared to respond if a suspected case ever presents locally.

“Any time a patient is admitted with respiratory symptoms, we take corresponding precautions, because we don’t know if it’s influenza or Covid, or it could even be hantavirus,” he said.

For now, Saad says the message for Windsor-Essex residents is simple: Don’t panic.

“From a community perspective, extremely low risk... no big alarm bells being raised at all at this time.”