Because the climate is mild much of the year, I often just left the doors 
open. Dust settles and the air is dry. The soil is sandy so there isn’t much in 
the way of mud to bring in. I could see how it would be easy for a caretaker 
like Arakawa to let things go. It seems clean even when it is filthy. 

Cleaning is satisfying in a climate like New Mexico. Use all the water you 
want. It will evaporate within the hour! 

Here (the coast) if one doesn’t stay on top of things, mold is everywhere. 
iRobot is running all the time to keep the dirt and dust off the floors. HEPA 
filters in every room to cope with smoke from fires or COVID-19.


From: Friam <[email protected]> on behalf of steve smith 
<[email protected]>
Date: Saturday, March 8, 2025 at 7:46 AM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Hackmann deaths - Hanta virus in Santa Fe ? 


On 3/8/25 7:42 AM, Frank Wimberly wrote: 

Very rare but very lethal. 


I've been snorting lines of mouse and packrat dust my whole life and never even 
knew someone personally who contracted hanta-virus (though plenty of anecdotal 
and high-profile stories like Hackman's wife). I've known a number of people 
who have been diagnosed with Lyme disease while living in an area with a much 
lower flux of ticks than mice. The former is highly lethal, the second can be 
life-changing debilitating and chronic (some folks' symptoms didn't really 
become pronounced for years after initial infection). NM is also known for high 
rates of bubonic plague (rodent vector), the ABQ science fiction (small) 
conference is known as "Bubonicon". 
I have become much more careful (respectful) of mouse-droppings, etc as I've 
aged (and become more aware of my mortality as my vulnerability also rises). I 
don't look askance at people who choose to mask and carry a 10% bleach 
spray-bottle when they attack mouse-dropping detritus, though I do neither 
myself. I have to remind some of those very people that running their handheld 
or even shop-vac in that context is possibly the very worst thing they can do. 
Paradoxically, the most fastidious house-keepers may well be at the most risk 
if this is their method of keeping up with the invaders. 
I *do* run a shop-vac when I do my twice yearly cleanout of my Yurt where the 
little buggers *are* known to take up residence if there is not enough 
human/pet activity to deter them ( I do use various deterrents such as cayenne, 
cinnamon, peppermint, pine oil, etc). But I do it in a wet context... spray 
down the floors, scrub with handled brush, wet-vac up the muck and then several 
rinse-passes. I *never* dry-vac (aerosolize the potential hanta-laden 
urine-dust) where rodents may have spent much time. My probability of 
contracting hanta has probably dropped a couple of orders of magnitude from the 
years when I took no precautions whatsoever. I don't ask anyone else to clean 
rodent-detritus for this very reason. 
I was shocked to hear that the wife apparently died days before Hackman himself 
did. I've had two Alzheimer's father-figures over the decades and can imagine 
that he might well have functioned minimally for a week in that context. He was 
apparently not dehydraded, so was able to self-care to some extent. I was 
full-time caretaker for my own father for about 10 days less than a year before 
his final passing and I could have imagined him wandering the house alone for a 
week if my mother had passed without anyone else knowing. She had had to put 
escape-proof locks on the egress doors lest he go visiting the neighbors in the 
middle of the night (several incidents of such), it is possible the Hackman 
Residence had the same? 


---
Frank C. Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz, 
Santa Fe, NM 87505

505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM 



On Sat, Mar 8, 2025, 7:30 AM Sarbajit Roy <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: 

Just saw news videos of Santa Fe county's medical examiner claiming the Hackman 
deaths were due to Hanta virus ? 
Just curious to know if Hanta virus is common in NM ? Or, is it some sort of 
cover up ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIcNMLepWuk 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIcNMLepWuk>

Sarbajit Roy (India) 



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