Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is accusing the Trump administration of dismantling critical federal public health teams responsible for monitoring cruise ships and responding to infectious disease outbreaks, warning the cuts could leave the United States vulnerable as a deadly hantavirus outbreak linked to an international cruise ship spreads.
In a statement released Saturday, Schumer said the administration spent the last year firing staff tied to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program and weakening Port Health Stations that monitor disease threats entering the country through ports and cruise terminals.
The criticism comes as health officials continue monitoring a hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, where at least three people have died and eight others have reportedly been infected. According to Schumer, six Americans who were aboard the ship have already returned to the United States, while additional passengers began returning home this weekend.
The outbreak involves the Andes virus strain, which Schumer said is the only known hantavirus capable of spreading person-to-person. The World Health Organization has reportedly classified all passengers and crew aboard the ship as high-risk contacts.
Schumer claimed the Trump administration eliminated every full-time employee in the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program last April as part of broader federal workforce reductions tied to the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. He also alleged that several of the nation’s 20 Port Health Stations now have no staff and that others are operating with limited personnel.
“The very CDC inspectors and port health workers we need to track this virus, the people whose entire job is to keep deadly diseases off cruise ships and out of our country, Donald Trump fired them,” Schumer said in the statement.
The New York Democrat is calling on President Donald Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to restore staffing and funding for infectious disease response programs, rehire CDC inspectors and public health personnel, and rejoin the World Health Organization.
Schumer also accused the administration of cutting funding for vaccine research, infectious disease surveillance and preparedness grants for state and local health departments.
The administration has not publicly responded to Schumer’s allegations.
Schumer requested a formal response from federal officials by May 17 detailing current CDC staffing levels tied to the hantavirus response, operations at Port Health Stations and the Vessel Sanitation Program, coordination with the World Health Organization, and any screening or monitoring protocols for travelers returning from the cruise ship.
Federal health officials have not announced any confirmed person-to-person hantavirus transmission cases inside the United States connected to the outbreak.
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