Influencer Vlogs Hantavirus Quarantine Quarters Experience at UNMC
by John Gage
OMAHA – One of the members of the cruise infected by the hantavirus was influencer Jake Rosmarin, who is now quarantining at the National Quarantine Center located on the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s (UNMC) campus. Rosmarin, who is a videographer with nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram, has been video-blogging his experience in the quarantine unit.
“Here’s a tour of the room where I’ll be quarantining for the next weeks,” Rosmarin said in an Instagram caption to one of his videos posted Tuesday. “Thank you to everyone who reached out with concern, but I am doing well and being treated with incredible care and attention here, and honestly that’s all I can ask for.”
The influencer showed off what he described as a “spacious room” that included, among the usual accessories, a fridge, a smart TV, a “hand sanitation station,” and an exercise bike.
In a video posted Tuesday afternoon, Rosmarin got emotional after the nurses delivered him a Starbucks iced horchata shaken espresso with oat milk and vanilla cold foam. “I’m not going to get emotional,” he said before getting emotional. “This is everything I needed right now.”
The shaken espresso is not the only time Rosmarin was visibly moved during his video blogs in recent weeks. Last week, the influencer gave a tearful update from the hantavirus-infected cruise ship saying that he was afraid of the “uncertainty.”
"All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity," he said.
So far, 16 passengers from the cruise ship have made their way to Omaha with 15 being put in the National Quarantine Unit. The unit is the only federally funded facility of its kind in the U.S. and has been used to house some of the first COVID-19 U.S. patients in 2020 and Ebola patients in 2014.
On Tuesday, Governor Jim Pillen gave an update on how the his administration was assisting with the hantavirus situation.
“The culmination of receiving patients is the result of multiple conversations and highly involved coordination between our federal, state and local government partners,” Pillen said. “Since we learned hantavirus was the source, and that those who were exposed would come to Nebraska for monitoring and care, we have been in consultation with our own team of medical experts at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). They, and other agency leaders have been part of regularly scheduled, daily alignment calls, especially in the days leading up to this transfer.”
The governor added that he had formed an interagency group “consisting of representatives from his office, DHHS, Nebraska State Patrol, and the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency” to coordinate with federal agencies and UNMC to help with ongoing security, transportation, and communication needs.
John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.