Florida health officials are pushing back at quarantine guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius exposed to the deadly Andes hantavirus.

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One American who was on the cruise ship says she’s stuck in the middle and unable to leave federal quarantine.

“I’m being held hostage in this power struggle between a state and the federal government,” said Angela Perryman, 47, who has been at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s National Quarantine Unit since May 11.

“I don’t think there has been a day since I’ve been here that I didn’t cry,” she said.

Perryman said that health officials previously told passengers that they would be able to leave federal quarantine by the end of May and spend the rest of their 42-day quarantine under home supervision. The first five went home June 1.

Like all Americans aboard the cruise ship, Perryman has tested negative for the Andes virus.

States were required by the CDC to station law enforcement or public health employees outside the homes of quarantined passengers for surveillance.

It was up to state health departments to figure out how to accomplish that for passengers who chose to go home.

Florida health officials, it appears, have a different approach.

“At this time, neither the state of Florida nor the Department is planning to implement round-the-clock surveillance measures,” Brian Wright, a spokesman for the Florida Health Department, said in an email. “The state does not believe unnecessarily intrusive restrictions are warranted when established public health practices can effectively protect both public health and personal freedom.”

The agency, which didn’t provide an official response, has named Dr. David Fitter to lead its response under the temporary leadership of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who has criticized the CDC’s restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

Perryman, a Florida native, is one of 18 Americans who were on the Hondius when the rare hantavirus outbreak struck in May. They were taken to the Nebraska unit, where some of the first Covid patients who’d been aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in early 2020, as well as several Ebola patients in 2014, were treated.

As of Thursday, 10 of the Hondius passengers have left the federal facility and are now under surveillance in their home states, until the end of the virus’s full 42-day quarantine period, set to end June 22, a University of Nebraska Medical Center spokesperson confirmed.

The passengers’ trips home were coordinated by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, as well as local and state health departments.

“The individuals did not travel commercially, and appropriate biocontainment measures were in place during their transport,” the medical center said in a statement.

Eight passengers, including Perryman, remain in Nebraska. The only other passenger still in Nebraska who has spoken publicly about the ordeal is Jake Rosmarin, who’s posted about his time in quarantine on Instagram.

Generally, the virus is spread from rodents to people. The Andes strain is the only one known to spread from person to person.

The World Health Organization confirmed 13 cases of Andes virus associated with the cruise ship, and three people have died. None of the Americans have developed symptoms.

That fatality rate — 23% — is one of the reasons health officials have been particularly focused on keeping any potential for viral spread contained. And the incubation period is exceptionally long. It can take up to six weeks for symptoms of hantavirus to appear.

Perryman said that all she wants to do is walk into her yard and take photos of birds and bugs.

“I want to go home,” she said, “and stay in my house and have no contact with anyone.”

The Florida supreme court on Wednesday allowed new US House districts drawn by Republicans to be used in the midterm elections, marking another victory for the GOP in a nationwide redistricting effort aimed at helping the party retain its slim House majority.

Attorneys for voters who sued had argued that the new congressional districts violate a state constitutional prohibition on partisan gerrymandering, and that the court should order the state to continue using the same districts as in the previous election. The supreme court, in a 6-1 decision, denied their request for a temporary injunction without ruling on the merits of the case. The judges said they lacked jurisdiction to intervene while the lawsuit gradually plays out in the lower courts.

Republicans already hold 20 of Florida’s 28 US House seats. The new voting districts signed into law by the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, after a swift two-day special legislative session could improve the GOP’s chances of winning four additional seats this year.

The court’s decision provides some certainty for prospective congressional candidates, who face a Friday deadline to qualify for the state’s 18 August primaries.

James Uthmeier, the Republican attorney general, who defended the new districts in court, declared “complete and total victory” in a social media post.

Opponents expressed outrage while vowing to continue the court fight, even though it may stretch into the 2028 election cycle.

“The Florida supreme court’s failure to stop this brazen partisan power grab is not only an assault on democracy, but an abdication of its duty to the people of Florida,” said Genesis Robinson, executive director of Equal Ground, a community organizing group that sued.

The new districts are “a pretty clear partisan gerrymander”, said Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida. “We’re going to do everything we can to prevent this map from impacting further, future elections.”

Voting districts typically are redrawn after a census near the beginning of each decade. Florida is one of several Republican-led states that have undertaken mid-decade redistricting as part of Donald Trump’s plan to try to hold on to a slim House majority in November by reshaping district boundaries to the GOP’s advantage.

Florida’s legislature approved the new House map on 29 April – the same day the US supreme court weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities while striking down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana. Since then, several southern states have taken steps to try to eliminate minority districts that have elected Democrats.

DeSantis had called lawmakers into a special session before the high court’s ruling, but he had anticipated the eventual outcome. DeSantis’s office asserted that no racial data was used for the map he presented to the legislature. The new map, among other things, redraws a south-eastern Florida district that DeSantis’s office said was created to help elect a Black representative in an attempt to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.

In addition to barring partisan gerrymandering, a constitutional amendment approved by Florida voters in 2010 also prohibits districts from being drawn to deny or diminish the ability of racial or language minorities to elect the representatives of their choice. It further requires districts to be compact and, where feasible, use existing political and geographic boundaries.