Avengers: Endgame Audience May Have Been Exposed to Measles in California

A packed movie theater in Fullerton, California, may have been exposed to measles during a midnight screening of Avengers: Endgame last week, according to NBC San Diego. The Orange County Health Care agency said the woman visited the AMC Theater in Fullerton Thursday, April 25, and other moviegoers may have been exposed from 11 p.m. in the evening until 4 a.m. on Friday. Those who were in attendance are being encouraged to check their vaccination status and reach out to their healthcare providers. Measles cases have been on the rise over the last few years for a number of reasons, but failure to vaccinate children is a key factor since increased exposure to viruses can weaken "herd immunity" and lead to additional cases.

According to Popular Science, the measles vaccine saved more than 10 million lives between 2000, when the U.S. declared the disease "eliminated," and 2012, when it started making a comeback. "Before the measles vaccine, 3 to 4 million people got the disease every year and basically everyone had gotten it by age 15," they explained last year. "That might sound like pretty good news. If everyone gets it as a kid, surely it's like chicken pox — you get it, then you're over it. In some ways, that's right. But it also means that the potentially permanent complications (and the fatalities) disproportionately affect little kids."

"The last place I would ever expect it was at my job. I wasn't even expecting Orange County," AMC Fullerton employee Carlee Greer-McNeill told the local news. "People, if you know you have the measles, please don't come to a movie theater, let alone a public place."

While there are few details available about the person who was diagnosed with measles after her visit to Avengers, she had reportedly just returned from an international trip. Most cases of measles come from individuals who have not been vaccinated. You can get more information about the Orange County case, as well as a number of recent cases in Los Angeles, at the NBC link above.

Avengers: Endgame earned over $350 million in its opening weekend, and has already become the highest-grossing movie of 2019 both at the domestic and international box ofice. The culmination of more than 10 years of Marvel movies, Endgame is expected to be the final Marvel Studios movie to feature a number of returning actors. You can find it in theaters now -- just, y'know...try not to get anybody sick while you're there.

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