The second people hear about a new virus, the reaction is almost automatic: What if this turns into another pandemic?

This is exactly what happened when hantavirus started showing up in headlines again after several cases connected to an outbreak on the motor vessel, or M.V., Hondius cruise ship. Even though the outbreak was small, people online immediately started comparing it to COVID-19. Some were joking about another lockdown, but others were actually nervous.

Before 2020, most people would not have paid much attention to a disease spread by rodents. COVID-19 changed the way people think forever. It proved that something most people had never heard of could suddenly shut down schools, cancel events and completely change daily life.

And that is why hantavirus feels bigger than it actually is.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hantavirus is mainly spread through contact with infected rodents, especially through their urine, droppings, or saliva. Unlike COVID-19, it does not easily spread from person to person in everyday situations. That is one of the biggest reasons experts don’t believe it will become a pandemic.

Another reason hantavirus is unlikely to become “the next COVID-19” is that scientists are not starting from scratch. Unlike COVID-19, which was a brand-new virus to most of the world in 2020, hantavirus has been studied for decades. According to the CDC, hantavirus was first recognized in 1993 after an outbreak in the Southwest. Since then, researchers have learned much more about how it spreads and how infections can be prevented.

There is currently no widely used hantavirus vaccine in the United States, but researchers already have years of knowledge about the disease. That makes this situation feel very different from the beginning of COVID-19, when scientists were still trying to understand basic information about the virus itself.

Still, hearing about any outbreak now automatically creates anxiety. Once society lives through something like COVID-19, it becomes hard not to imagine the worst.

Part of the fear also comes from how unpredictable the world feels lately. Climate change and environmental changes are making people wonder if diseases could become more common in the future. According to Live Science, scientists have found connections between changing weather patterns and increases in rodent populations, which could raise the risk of hantavirus cases in some areas.

That does not mean society is about to face another pandemic tomorrow. But after COVID-19, people no longer fully trust that outbreaks will stay small forever.

Younger generations, especially, grew up seeing how quickly life can disappear. Kids remember online classes, masks, canceled birthdays and adults constantly talking about case numbers and restrictions. Because of that, every new virus feels personal in a way it might not have before 2020.

According to Reuters, health officials continue to say the public risk from hantavirus remains low despite the recent outbreak concerns. But even with reassurance from experts, fear still spreads quickly online.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Hantavirus should not be ignored because it is still a serious disease. But comparing every outbreak to COVID-19 also creates unnecessary panic. Social media already turns small health scares into massive conversations within hours.

So no, hantavirus probably is not the next COVID-19. According to health experts, it simply does not spread the same way. But the fact that so many people immediately worried about another pandemic shows how deeply COVID-19 affected society.

The virus itself may stay rare. The fear of another global outbreak will not.