Kansas legislative leaders approve extended monitoring of three residents exposed to hantavirus

TOPEKA — Kansas legislative leaders on Tuesday approved the governor’s request to extend an emergency declaration in response to three residents who are being monitored for a potential hantavirus infection.

Will Lawrence, the governor’s chief of staff, revealed new details about how the three individuals had been in close contact with someone who died from the disease.

Gov. Laura Kelly declared an emergency May 12 after health officials learned about the exposure. Lawrence said the declaration allowed the state to transport individuals to the University of Kansas Medical Center for monitoring, and for the state to continue to monitor the patients after they were discharged last week. The three patients, who are all asymptomatic, remain in voluntary isolation at home.

Those cases are connected to an individual who was on the MV Hondius cruise ship, where an Andes hantavirus outbreak caused at least three deaths.

The governor’s declaration was set to expire Tuesday night. Instead of asking for a traditional 30-day extension, Lawrence said, the governor asked legislative leaders to extend the declaration through June 7 because that is the end of the potential 42-day incubation period for the hantavirus.

“They are doing well, they’re asymptomatic at this point in time, and they’re staying in contact with us on a daily basis,” Lawrence said. “So we’re monitoring that, but if things change, if we need to transport them or anything like that, we need to have the declaration in place, just so we can move quickly.”

The Legislative Coordinating Council, a panel of six Republican and two Democratic leaders that handles administrative tasks when the Legislature isn’t in session, voted 7-1 to approve the governor’s request.

Sen. Tim Shallenburger, a Baxter Springs Republican who serves as the Senate vice president, objected to the request.

“I just want to see if I can wrap my head around that,” he said. “We got three people, none of whom are sick, who may have been in contact with somebody who may not have been sick, and we consider that an emergency in the state of Kansas?”

Lawrence said concerns about the exposure to hantavirus originated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which contacted Kansas officials after a patient in another state died.

“What’s happened here is that these three individuals were on a flight with someone who was symptomatic sitting in front of them, and this person ultimately got off the airplane, did test positive for antivirus, and did pass away,” Lawrence said.

Shallenburger was the lone “no” vote.

Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican who is seeking the party’s nomination for governor, said he wanted to make sure the quarantine was voluntary, “because of the sensitivities of what went on during COVID.”

During the pandemic, some Kansans complained about emergency health orders that required them to isolate when contagious.

“My understanding is no one is showing symptoms, i.e. not sick,” Masterson said. “I just want to make sure nobody’s being held not sick against their will.”

Lawrence told him “no one is being held without their consent.”

“This is all voluntary,” he said. “They have been working with us very well to report every day any potential symptoms.”