As hantavirus cases continue to climb, many Americans are wondering if the US is prepared for another pandemic.
According to US News & World Report, we may not be.
The publication ranked the US No. 18 for public health preparedness as part of its Best Country ratings released Thursday.
Dead bodies of COVID-19 patients are transported to a temporary morgue outside of Wyckoff Hospital in Brooklyn on April 6, 2020. AFP via Getty Images Public health preparedness was measured by vaccination rates, the ability to conduct medical research and the number of deaths from past epidemics. The US recorded over 1.2 million deaths related to Covid-19.
In its explanation of the rankings, US News noted that smaller countries like Denmark, Switzerland and Singapore “combine strong underlying systems with institutional nimbleness to respond quickly when health crises emerge.”
Large nations like the US, UK and Germany, meanwhile, have “challenges of scale and complexity in pandemic response.”
That’s not very reassuring to the Americans worried about the deadly outbreak of Andes virus, a rare and often fatal type of hantavirus, aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship as it traversed the Atlantic Ocean.
Three cruisegoers died, and all 18 US ship passengers entered federal quarantine on Monday after disembarking the ship. The idea is that they stay quarantined until the 42-day incubation period ends.
The Andes virus can spread from person to person, unlike typical hantaviruses, which are transmitted via exposure to the urine, droppings and saliva of infected rodents.
As for our public health preparedness, in the US News rankings, we scored 74.7 out of 100 in epidemic mortality, 86.8 in immunization coverage and 63.4 in medical research. Here’s a look at the 17 nations that scored better.
Personnel in biohazard suits assist in the disembarkation of passengers evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was affected by a hantavirus outbreak. The passengers arrived on a chartered aircraft at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 11, 2026. REUTERS Top countries for public health preparedness Denmark Switzerland Singapore Iceland Australia Norway Netherlands France Sweden Luxembourg Israel Belgium Finland Portugal South Korea UK Spain US Public health preparedness was part of the greater “health” category, one of eight categories that US News used to determine the best countries.
US scored 33rd in health, which brought down its overall ranking. The US was named the 18th best country, a fall from No. 3 in 2024.
Switzerland was crowned the winner, followed by Denmark and Sweden.
