An unnamed woman in her 20s may have exposed viewers at an Avengers: Endgame midnight showing to measles in Fullterton, California.
The Los Angeles Times reports the woman appeared to have gone to work for a few days as well as seen the midnight showing in Avengers: Endgame before she realized she was sick. The woman reportedly lives in Placentia and is the first person to contract measles in Orange County this year.
The Sacramento Bee indicated patrons at the AMC movie theater on Lemon Street between 11 p.m. Thursday and 4 a.m. Friday could have been exposed to the disease. The Orange County Register reports she might have also infected the St. Jude Emergency Department in Fullerton between 7 and 9 a.m. on April 27th as well as 5 Hutton Centre Drive in Santa between 7 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. each day between April 23rd and April 25th.
An Orange County Health Care spokeswoman stated, “the exposure risk applies to anyone who was at the theater during that time period.”
Dr. Nichole Quick, Orange County interim health officer, told the LA Times in a statement, “Measles is a highly contagious and potentially severe disease that causes fever, rash, cough and red, watery eyes.” She added, “The MMR vaccine is a simple, inexpensive and very effective measure to prevent the spread of this serious virus.”
The woman reportedly contracted the disease while she was traveling overseas. She is reportedly under isolation at home according to health officials.
Fox News reported earlier this week that there had been 704 cases of measles in at least 22 states this year. 38 of those cases have been in California. In fact, this recent measles case comes after a measles outbreak in Los Angeles County, where a resident traveled to Vietnam and brought back the disease and gave it to at least three others in the county. The recent outbreak in L.A. had health officials telling over 1,000 college students and staff to stay home.
According to a report by CNN, this is the largest outbreak of the virus “since the disease was declared eliminated nationwide in 2000.”
What do you make of this measles case infecting potential Avengers: Endgame moviegoers and theater staff?