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backpacking, california, camping, girly, girly camping, hantavirus, health, hiking, law, mountains, national, national parks, nature, news, outbreak, outdoors, suing, virus, yosemite
Women Seeks Millions From California After Virus Outbreak
Cathy Carrillo is suing DNC Parks and Resorts for $3.25 million after becoming sick with the hantavirus at Yosemite State Park last June. Ms. Carrillo was staying in Curry Village while she contracted the virus and now she says she has a million dollars in medical bills and suffers from diminished lung capacity and low energy. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said infection with hantavirus can progress to Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), which can be fatal. People become infected through contact with hantavirus-infected rodents or their urine and droppings. Three park visitors died and several others were sickened during the outbreak. Investigators determined that deer mice, the most common carrier of the illness, were nesting inside the insulated walls of the new tents and likely were drawn by food guests brought with them.
Yosemite officials did not immediately return messages left late Monday night seeking comment about the suit. What do you think?
Girly Camping® 
I think they should probably cover at least some of her medical bills. While it is a park, and they can only do so much to prevent rodents existing, nobody goes out expecting a chance of hantavirus.
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I remember hearing about this and being really relieved I didn’t plan a trip to Yosemite last year. I almost went there, but decided to save it for a different visit to CA.
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I’m not sure what to think. I know I feel sorry for the woman but $1,000,000 in medical bills? Really? That seems excessive.
If I were running a park watched a lawsuit like this succeed, I might cancel camping and other access..Outdoors activities have inherent risks. This is a slippery slope. Can you sue if your campsite gets wrecked by bears then? Or if you turn your ankle on a hike?
It’s good for the lawyers, I guess.
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What do I think?
One, that she is suing us, the taxpayers, as we fund the Park Service.
Two, that if any one expects a risk free life, then stay out of the woods and in a protected bubble.
Three, these insane suits are one of the reasons that the Park Service is limiting the public’s access to more and more areas of our National Parks.
I feel sorry for those that died, and those that became seriously ill, but this is nothing more than a way to get rich quick on the part of one person who became ill. I read recently that the parents of a child killed by a falling tree or branch are suing the Park Service for millions as well. Suing is not going to return the woman’s health, nor bring the kid back to life.
And that brings us to the larger problem, people suing those with deep pockets, like the government or insurance companies, they’ve got money, they can afford a few million here and there. But, that money comes from our pockets one way or another, higher entrance fees to the parks, higher taxes, or higher insurance premiums, then we all sit back and whine about the costs.
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I agree – if you don’t want to be exposed to risks – stay at home and lead a boring and unfulfilling life. I’m glad we have the NHS over here as her medical bills sound horrendous. I can’t help feeling that the only winners here will be the lawyers….
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You venture into the wild and there are no guarantees for your safety… that being said, there are not guarantees when you are doing nothing but sitting at home twiddling your thumbs. It’s too bad that she was effected – but to sue the park? Really? The park systems are already hurting for money, and if they have to cover this and then pick up further insurance coverage in case things like this happen in the future they will be forced to shut down…
Then again, that might not be too bad – let nature get back to taking care of itself for awhile.
And those of us who wander into the Sierra without needing a ranger around, or an insulated tent, can continue to do so…
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well said!
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Totally agree with Quietsolopursuits – couldn’t have said it any better!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I was staying at Curry Village early September, right after the discovery of the virus in the tents. They had shut down the tents by then, so we paid the extra money to rent cabins instead – like $200 a night, and were lucky to get them. Yosemite is in the middle of a huge national park. Of course there are mice. We were very careful to stay away from any unclean areas, dust, etc. Still, 5 weeks later I had some of the early symptoms, almost freaked out, but eventually they subsided. Did I have the virus? Did I beat it back? Was I paranoid? I’ll never know.
I can see that if you rent a tent you don’t expect to contract a disease with a higher than 50% fatality rate, just from staying there. I am not surprised it’s a million dollars. Check out hantavirus and you see what a nasty disease it is. It would take a lot of intensive care to recover from, and I understand that she suffers for the rest of her life.
I don’t want to park service to be responsible. What about rock climbers that die? What about hikers that get mauled by mountain lions? If you go out in nature, you need to accept the fact that you can die – worst case.
Fortunately hantavirus is so rare, there won’t be many cases like this.
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