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The Hantavirus Outbreak Is Resurrecting Covid-Era Misinformation Tactics
NY Times ^ | My 14, 2026 | Teddy Rosenbluth

Posted on 05/14/2026 5:37:09 PM PDT by DoodleBob

….Some users on X have called the outbreak…a hoax designed to influence a new round of elections in the United States, or have falsely claimed that hantavirus is a side effect of the Covid vaccine. Others have warned about the possibility of lockdowns and vaccines, despite the fact that there has been no discussion of such measures and there’s no widely available shot on the market. …

“The conspiracy theories from Covid-19 never really died,” said Yotam Ophir, who studies misinformation and conspiracy theories at the University at Buffalo. “They lay dormant for a few years.”

Public health experts say the outbreak of hantavirus, which spreads rarely from person to person, poses far less of a threat than Covid, which killed more than 7 million people worldwide after it emerged in China in late 2019. But the rush to embrace a new round of conspiracy theories has them concerned.

Even if the hantavirus outbreak is quickly brought under control, they fear this is a warning sign that officials will face significant pushback should they need the nation’s cooperation in controlling the next major health threat.

“The next time when we need to face a big challenge as a society, we’re just not in a good place to cope with it,” Dr. Ophir said.

Part of the problem, he said, is that much of the misinformation and distrust generated during the Covid pandemic was never meaningfully addressed.

One 2024 survey found more than a quarter of respondents still mistakenly believed Covid vaccines caused thousands of deaths, years after Americans first started getting the shots. Another 2023 survey found that more than a third of Americans believed the virus responsible for Covid was released on purpose, a theory unsupported by any credible evidence.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: covid; disinformation; hantavirus; media; misinformation
The REAL purpose of this article is for the Times et al to lament their loss of persuasion, influence, and relevance.

We got their number, and were already miles ahead of them.

1 posted on 05/14/2026 5:37:09 PM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: DoodleBob
The conspiracy theories from Covid-19 never really died,”

The conspiracy theories from Covid-19 turned out to be mostly correct.
2 posted on 05/14/2026 5:43:15 PM PDT by rottndog (250 years...will we make it to 300?)
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To: DoodleBob

So they are admitting that the lockdowns were never necessary in the first place.


3 posted on 05/14/2026 5:53:34 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: DoodleBob

“still mistakenly believed Covid vaccines caused thousands of deaths”

No bias in this liberal propaganda shiite.


4 posted on 05/14/2026 6:07:09 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: rottndog

5 posted on 05/14/2026 6:10:57 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: DoodleBob
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful trip


6 posted on 05/14/2026 6:14:47 PM PDT by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: DoodleBob
Exactly.

You could already see the attempts that had the same pattern and tone of 2020.

I said it on another thread that I know people that have said,'we're not doing this again'. I'll add that it was said by normie people with a certain tone that reminded me of that anonymously authored 'The Man Who Wanted To Be Left Alone'.

7 posted on 05/14/2026 6:16:18 PM PDT by Tench_Coxe (The woke were surprised by the reaction to the Bud Light fiasco. May there be many more surprises)
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To: DoodleBob

8 posted on 05/14/2026 6:17:02 PM PDT by Allegra (I hate the word “literally.” )
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To: DoodleBob

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝

From 1993 to 2023 (that’s 30 years to you CA public school graduates) in the US, more people were struck by lightning than contracted the hantavirus.

None, zip, nada, zero in my state of KY.

Surefire proof we are all gonna die if the healthcare bureaucrats aren’t allowed to imprison us.


9 posted on 05/14/2026 6:27:22 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s, you weren't really there)
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To: Allegra

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4378676/posts

Moderna working on a hantavirus vaccine after global pandemic fears sparked
MSN ^ | May 8, 2026 | Alison Bloom
Posted on 5/10/2026, 11:11:01 PM by DoodleBob

The recent outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship has renewed attention on the efforts to develop a vaccine for the virus.

Work on the vaccine began 15 years ago by the founders of EnsiliTech, a biotech company based in the U.K. “We looked at hantavirus and saw it was pretty neglected,” said Matt Slade, a company co-founder and its chief of staff. “There wasn’t really any work in the sector.”

The EnsiliTech vaccine, which is being developed to fight the virus, uses messenger RNA technology, similar to that used in COVID-19 shots. The hantaan virus, common in East Asia, is the cause of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, a condition characterized by internal bleeding and kidney damage.

Moderna has conducted successful trials in rodents, the animals responsible for transmitting hantavirus to humans. Slade, however, estimates it will be another three to four years before the vaccine, which has not yet begun human testing, reaches early-stage clinical trials. Slade also indicated that the company might develop a second vaccine specifically targeting the Andes strain, the one linked to the recent cruise ship outbreak.

Completing the Phase 2 and 3 trials for the vaccine will likely take an additional five years without the significant support, such as the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed initiative, which expedited the development of Covid vaccines during President Donald Trump’s first term.


10 posted on 05/14/2026 6:35:53 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: DoodleBob

THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES

NOTHING THAT HAPPENS POLITICALLY IS ACCIDENTAL


11 posted on 05/14/2026 6:37:15 PM PDT by Iron Munro (David Horowitz — "Inside Every Progressive Is A Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out" )
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To: DoodleBob

These viruses always seem to pop up during election season no one is falling for their bs anymore


12 posted on 05/14/2026 6:43:37 PM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
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To: DoodleBob

Mask-a-teers are ready to go…


13 posted on 05/14/2026 10:10:57 PM PDT by Skybird
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To: DoodleBob
"The Hantavirus Outbreak Is Resurrecting Covid-Era Misinformation Tactics"


14 posted on 05/15/2026 1:56:59 AM PDT by clearcarbon (Fraudulent elections have consequences.)
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To: DoodleBob

Second verse, same as the first.


15 posted on 05/15/2026 4:49:48 AM PDT by Old Yeller
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To: DoodleBob

So they want to compare it to covid with their scare tactics.

Official documented cases of Covid - 9.7% of global population - with estimates that all the variations spawned may have affected 80% or so of the population.

Hantavirus -
From Gemini: The percentage of the world population that catches hantavirus each year is extraordinarily small—so low that it is typically measured in millionths of a percent.

According to WHO (which wants to make a big deal of it): Annual Global Cases: Worldwide, it is estimated that between 10,000 and 100,000 people contract a hantavirus infection each year.

Percentage of World Population: Against a global population of roughly 8 billion people, 100,000 cases represents just 0.00125% of the world population catching it (Hanta Virus) in a given year.

If we have a sudden surge, you can bet it was purposely deployed.


16 posted on 05/15/2026 5:15:49 AM PDT by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
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To: DoodleBob

Meanwhile, nowhere in this screed from the NYT does it refer to the Andes virus.

Why is that, NYT...?


17 posted on 05/15/2026 5:31:56 AM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away! 🇺🇸 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿)
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To: mewzilla
Andes subtype of Hanta is the only one that can be spread person to person, albeit not easily so spread. To get the other types requires close exposure to infected rodent excretions. Avoid them by avoiding rat infested areas (often correlates with Rat infested jurisdictions, eg. LA city hall.). Andes subtype is named for where it’s naturally found, especially southern Andes area where this outbreak originated. Nothing to suggest evil scientist work this time, just a risky rich guy vacation plan. Andes causes a different clinical picture than the original Hanta subtypes (named for their Korean War location) so might be different enough a vaccine designed for the original type might not cover the Andes type (cf. endless variations of Covid vaccines.)

Déjà vu!!! I just saw a 5 year old lab study showing chloroquine was effective against Hanta viruses. Preview isn’t accepting what looks like a good embedded link to me, so those interested will have to copy and paste this:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.580532/full

Years prior to Covid, there were studies showing chloroquine was effective against similar viruses, at least in the lab. IIRC Fauci even was associated with one such study. Since we had decades of experience using chloroquine and its cousin hydroxychloquine long term for malaria prophylaxis - safe enough to be OTC for that in many counties - and decades of experience using it at higher doses for malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus treatment without much side effects, I (here) and others recommended them for urgent research at the start of that pandemic. If the dosage in the lab studies corresponded to normal human dosing - after 80+ years researching the drug someone should have been able to compare them - human studies would be safe to conduct. And given a pandemic worth of potential volunteers with no known active alternatives statistical proof could be reached quickly on whether a safe treatment already existed. At Walmart rather than Wall Steet prices. Instead, as soon as Trump voiced HCQ one of the best established safe old drugs was deemed too dangerous. Mainly for alleged cardiac risks, of which those of us doctors routinely using it were unaware. studies were stalled and designed for it to fail. When they finally came out any evidence of benefits were downplayed. I don’t recall a single such study reported the alleged HCQ cardiac side effects; there were no true medical reasons not to have pushed emergency studies on it and Covid ASAP. Ivermectin offered a similar Covid story, albeit a generation less old safe drug, but I’ve not yet seen anything on it for Hanta. As a Dermatologist I wasn’t treating Covid, but I have used all these meds for older indications. There are not enough potential volunteers yet, and I pray ever, to statistically prove Hanta efficacy with chloroquine or HCQ (or if a similar study exists, for ivermectin.). But, if I were one of the 18 currently quarantined with WiFi in Omaha’s UNMC, knew this, understood Hanta, and PharmDs could show the study and standard human doses correspond I’d sure want to try it. Ironically I interned at UNMC well before their quarantine unit was created, but have proudly followed it from a distance.

18 posted on 05/15/2026 11:25:53 AM PDT by JohnBovenmyer
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