Quarantined Cruise Passenger Makes Egg Sandwich in Omaha Isolation Room

Jake Rosmarin made an egg sandwich for breakfast Wednesday in his quarantine room in Omaha using ingredients ordered from a numbered menu provided by staff at the medical facility he and 15 others expect to call home for the next 40 days.

The 29-year-old had planned to be back in Boston with his fiancee after a 35-day cruise to some of the most remote places on Earth.

Instead, hantavirus claimed the lives of three fellow passengers on the MV Hondius, sparking an international frenzy over how and where to repatriate others onboard.

Facing weeks alone in quarantine, Rosmarin told the BBC on Wednesday that he was adapting to the new routine of "not too much."

An "all-garbed-up" nurse knocks on his door twice a day to remind him to take and report his temperature, which so far has been normal.

For other interactions, like bringing food and requested blankets, staff are similarly "garbed up, not in hazmat suits, but they are garbed up in a better mask and a shield and that kind of stuff."

When staff entered Rosmarin's room to take blood on Tuesday, they wore even more gear, "and between rooms, they have to take it off and then put on new gear," he said.

On Wednesday morning, he had not yet received the results of those Tuesday tests. But he has been keeping busy by ordering creature comforts to help him endure the stay.

"I'm expecting some packages today and tomorrow, and hopefully I can start making it feel a little more like home," he said. "I'm expecting a mattress pad for my bed and new pillows and things like that."

"I think I'm just overwhelmed," he said. "I don't even know what to request. But yesterday, the first package that I got was a colouring book … one of the fun ones that are more for adults. I think it's like inspirational quotes or something like that."

"Unfortunately, the other package has the colouring pencils, and I didn't get that one delivered yet. Hopefully I'll be getting that today."

In the meantime, he has been regularly communicating with his fiancee and family, and he has messaged other passengers also quarantined in Omaha.

Rosmarin and 14 other American passengers arrived Monday morning at the National Quarantine Unit, part of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the only federally funded such unit in the US. Another US passenger, Dr. Stephen Kornfeld – who had helped with the medical crisis while on board – tested positive for hantavirus and is isolating at a nearby biocontainment unit in Omaha. Two additional American passengers were sent to Emory University in Atlanta, which also has a biocontainment unit.

He and the others quarantined order food each night for the next day from the provided menu; on Tuesday, for example, he requested a No. 9 – scrambled eggs; a No. 18 – bacon slices; a No. 19 – English muffin; No. 107 – a regular hot coffee; and a No. 124 – vanilla almond milk.

A photographer and content creator, Rosmarin has also been posting social media updates since the early days of the outbreak while still on the ship, with the first being highly emotional when he was clearly scared. His posts since then, however – particularly since arriving in Omaha – have been much more staid, as has his outlook, Rosmarin said.

"I kind of think it still hasn't hit me yet," he said. "I think I'm now in a better place, but I think every day when I was on that ship, I thought I was going to just wake up from a nightmare, and it was a reality."

"My whole life is on social media, and if I can't be creating content, I don't know what to do with myself," he told the BBC. "And it seems that people are really interested in what is going on. … I'm going to tell people what I'm experiencing, and I don't mind sharing that."

"I think there's people who just want to, you know, show hate, and the hate isn't supported by anything factual," he said. "And the people who come up with conspiracy theories – no one's going to be able to convince them that it's not true."

"I've seen that the people who were originally … saying maybe that I'm selfish for wanting to get off the ship and just maybe not understanding the situation in full, I've seen a lot of love and support from those people that I didn't see originally."

"There was so much unknown, and getting those comments made it hard. I think that love and support that I knew was truly heartfelt is what got me through those seven days."

Rosmarin and the others had been informed by the captain of a hantavirus case during a meeting in a lounge "less than 24 hours before we were supposed to disembark the ship," he said. He and others immediately began googling and, "after that point, I basically did not leave my cabin at all."

Rosmarin and the other passengers were marooned on board with "seriously ill" travellers as the cruise ship searched for a port that would accept them.

It was a "really sticky and tough and scary situation," he said. Not only could they not dock and get help for the visibly ill, but there was no way to know who else may have been exposed and infected.

Now, in addition to his attempts to make the quarantine space more comfortable, he's also going to start writing.

"This is not something I want to forget, because it's a story that I'm going to definitely want to tell my children one day," he said.