Scientists think that it started when one person got exposed to the virus the usual way, from a rodent, and then...

So went to a birthday party, was feeling symptomatic, but, you know, birthday party.

Went, and looks like at that birthday party probably exposed some other people, but at least two other people that went on to then be in- involved in social events and spread [laughs].

One of them was the wake of, uh, the second person that had died.

This version of hantavirus that led to the relatively small outbreak on the cruise ship, it's been known to science since 1996, 30 years ago, when Macarena was number one on the charts, and in that time, three decades, it really hasn't mutated, particularly when you compare it to viruses that have caused pandemics.

COVID is a master mutator, uh, much like influenza.

That's their bread and butter.

That's how they survive.