Angela Perryman, a 47-year-old Florida woman exposed to hantavirus on a cruise, remains in a federal quarantine facility in Omaha, Nebraska, under an order signed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., even after a CDC recommendation that she finish isolation
For Angela Perryman, the most punishing part of the quarantine may be the question it won’t answer: why her situation keeps moving backward when medical reviewers recommended otherwise.
Perryman. 47. has been held at a quarantine facility in Omaha. Nebraska. despite a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that she be allowed to finish the remainder of a 42-day isolation period at home. She was exposed to hantavirus aboard a cruise liner last month. and after she was flown back to the United States. she was taken to the Omaha facility.
On Monday, she received a federal quarantine order extending her confinement in Omaha. The order was signed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and keeps her there “unless modified or rescinded” by a subsequent federal directive. It also allows Perryman to request that the secretary rescind the federal quarantine. but only if the request is supported by “a showing of significant. new or changed facts or medical evidence that raise a genuine issue as to whether the individual should continue to be subject to federal quarantine.”.
Her case is one of the few that has made it into open conflict. Perryman says she is one of 10 passengers still at the facility, but the only one challenging the order.
She accused Kennedy of “ignoring the medical review” by the CDC. which recommended Thursday that she be allowed to complete the remainder of her isolation at home. Perryman told MISRYOUM that she believes the federal government is not meeting the legal standard for how these quarantine decisions should be carried out.
“The law requires the quarantine conditions to be the least restrictive necessary to maintain public health,” Perryman said. “Even the CDC’s own reviewer says that Florida’s plan is adequate and meets that standard. At this point, the federal government is just ignoring the law. It feels like retaliation for me speaking out.”.
Perryman has not tested positive for the virus. In her view, the absence of a confirmed infection is exactly why the decision should trouble the public.
“It should terrify” every American, she said. “If they can do this to me, they can literally do it to anyone.”
She pointed to the setting and the legal safeguards she says are missing. Perryman described what she called a “purpose-built federal detention center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center” holding American citizens under administrative orders. She argued that what happened to her shows that the checks and balances written into the law do not function as intended.
“There is no judicial review,” she said. “The CDC/HHS now lacks the integrity to follow the law without a judge forcing them.”
Her concerns extend beyond her own medical situation. Perryman said the scenario could reach anyone with a similar exposure fear—children, family members, and commuters—without a path to immediate challenge.
“There’s nothing stopping the government from just grabbing him and locking him up away from you, and you have absolutely no recourse,” she said, describing how a person’s circumstances could be used to justify detention.
The dispute traces back to Florida’s assessment of how quarantine should work in her case. In a May 28 letter by the Florida Department of Health to CDC officials. State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo indicated that Florida planned to issue a voluntary quarantine agreement for Perryman to isolate at home without other occupants. The plan included daily monitoring via telehealth—temperature checks and symptom assessments.
“At this time the assessment of the Florida Department of Health is that it is not necessary to implement the federal conditions of 24/7 continuous surveillance and twice in-person monitoring of the individual at their residence,” the letter says.
Perryman, who said she splits her time between Florida and Ecuador, argued that Florida’s medical plan should have been enough to satisfy the legal requirement for least restrictive conditions.
Her attorney, Steven Hyman, said the federal decision “flies in the face of the findings of the medical reviewer,” speaking to The New York Times on Monday.
While she waits, Perryman says her isolation has become harder to endure—not just physically, but mentally.
“I’m barely hanging on, at this point,” she told MISRYOUM. “You don’t expect your own government to just ignore the law and imprison you.”
CDC and HHS officials were contacted by email for comment early Tuesday.
hantavirus federal quarantine Omaha Nebraska Robert F. Kennedy Jr. CDC Angela Perryman quarantine order University of Nebraska Medical Center Joseph Ladapo Florida Department of Health
Why is she even in Omaha? Just let her finish at home.
So the CDC said home isolation and then they still keep her trapped anyway? That’s messed up. Also hantavirus sounds scary as hell.
Wait I thought hantavirus was from like mice and stuff, not cruises. If it’s from a cruise ship then why not quarantine the ship lol. Either way this Robert F. Kennedy guy sounds like he’s overruling doctors.
Federal quarantine orders are always vague like “unless modified” like who decides that part? I don’t get how CDC recommended home and she’s still stuck there for 42 days. Sounds like legal games more than health, and she’s saying Kennedy ignored the medical review which… okay but what’s the actual new evidence? They never answer that part in the article. 10 passengers or whatever too, like how many people are just sitting there waiting.