Jake Rosmarin has been a long-time traveler and content creator, going on exciting expeditions around the world and sharing professional photos and videos of his adventures.
But one recent trip turned into a completely different experience than anyone could have ever imagined: Rosmarin was on board the M/V Hondius cruise ship amid a hantavirus outbreak.
As soon as the highly dangerous virus was discovered, public health officials and doctors put expert protocols into action to keep other passengers safe, eventually resulting in people being returned to their countries of origin to be monitored by health officials and to keep the disease from spreading.
Rosmarin is from Boston, so he arrived back in the United States and was immediately placed in a national biocontainment unit in Omaha, Nebraska, where he will be monitored for 42 days.
Rosmarin has continued to share his experiences in daily video blogs and regular Instagram Story updates, now seven days into his quarantine experience.
While there are strict guidelines for him to remain indoors in his personal unit, Rosmarin is able to order food for all his meals and can receive packages. Some medical staff in the unit have also delivered encouraging notes and Starbucks drinks. But one recent experience brought Rosmarin to tears.
“I am learning what ‘Nebraska Nice’ is to the core,” he said in a video posted over the weekend. “The people here in Omaha have just been so kind to me, so many people sending me recommendations [for] if I can order in food, what I should order … and just offering to get me things.”
He then goes on to reveal that a follower reached out online and offered to pick up a photo print order from their local CVS, so Rosmarin could hang up some of his photographs, highlighting the good parts of his recent trip.
“It literally made my day to be able to get photos quickly and put them up here in my room,” Rosmarin said, voice breaking.
He also read a note the stranger included with the random act of kindness.
“Happy to help!” it begins. “I’m sure these pics will bring more life to your room. I’m looking forward to your video blog so I can see them!”
“That really just meant the whole world to me,” Rosmarin said, beginning to cry. “The people here have just been so kind and so generous and so nice.”
Rosmarin showed some of the photos now hanging on his wall in the small quarantine quarters.
Turning his camera around, he showed stunning images of Northern Rockhopper Penguins on Gough Island, a stop on the cruise expedition. He also showed a vibrant sunset photo with penguins in the foreground, taken on St. Andrew’s Bay.
He promised a full room tour soon, now that he has added some additional comforts, smiling and in good spirits, saying “it’s just 5 more weeks left!”
“I’m going to get through it, and it’s going to be okay,” he reminded viewers. “I can’t wait for the quarantine to be up and for me to be able to get home.”
While Rosmarin has been quick to make his accommodations more comfortable, he stressed in a recent video that, while he is grateful for the support, he does not need people to send him additional packages.
“I truly feel like I have more than enough already,” he wrote in a comment. “If you would like to do something, I think it would be amazing to instead find an organization to donate to that supports hantavirus research and awareness.”
Commenters on his Instagram video reminded Rosmarin that he is doing a major act of kindness himself.
“Well, you are being nice to all of society by choosing quarantine right now,” someone wrote. “But glad that you are being treated well in return!”
Now that Rosmarin has remained well a week into quarantine, he is also beginning to share stories of his positive experiences from the cruise and reflect on his experience as a whole.
“At the end of the day, I love to travel, I love sharing the world with people, and I love inspiring others to experience places they may have never even heard of before,” he wrote in a recent Instagram caption. “I don’t want the traumatic ending of this trip to completely overshadow all of the amazing experiences that came before it.”
While the situation is still scary, and hantavirus headlines and reactions stir up fear and uncertainty globally, Rosmarin is setting an example by taking everything one day at a time — and doing his part to keep others safe.
“I’m really proud of how far I’ve come emotionally over this past week, and I absolutely owe that to my fiancé Alex, my family, my friends, the incredible staff at the NQU & UNMC, the people of Nebraska, and honestly strangers from all over the world who chose kindness during all of this,” he wrote in a caption reflecting on his first seven days in quarantine.
“It’s because of all of you that I’ve been able to stay positive through something that at first felt impossible.”
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Header image courtesy of Jake Rosmarin/Instagram
