By Christina Jewett, California Watch California public health
scientists have twice recommended in the past five years that
Yosemite National Park authorities educate visitors about
hantavirus, a rare disease that is linked to the deaths of two
park visitors, one illness and a possible fourth this summer.
Yet park officials did not warn visitors until after the disease
showed up in recent weeks. In a 2010 risk assessment document,
state inspectors explicitly asked Yosemite officials to educate
those staying in the tent cabins linked to the hantavirus cases
about the fatal disease. The risk assessment was performed after
a 54-year-old park visitor fell ill with hantavirus in 2010
after staying in the type of tent cabin inhabited by the 2012
victims. “Provide each cabin with information on (hantavirus),”
the 2010 risk assessment recommended. “Together with the bear
safety guidance, guests should be advised to minimize contact
with rodents and to report signs of rodent intrusion (e.g.,
droppings, chewed items)