ALBANY – The State Health
Department has issued a warning to residents of Orange and Putnam counties
that they may have been exposed to the measles virus if they were in specific
locations at specific times.
A tourist from Australia with confirmed measles visited the Watchtower
Educational Center in Putnam County, an Orange County hotel, an urgent
care center in Orange County and Orange Regional Medical Center’s
Emergency Department in the Town of Wallkill between February 16 and 21,
potentially exposing others to the virus.
The tourist also visited hotels in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The health department said the risk of developing measles is very low,
especially for people who have been immunized.
Anyone in the Mid-Hudson who visited the following locations may have
been exposed, the state agency said late Friday:
• Watchtower Education Center, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson,
between 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on February 19;
• Comfort Inn and Suites Goshen-Middletown, 20 Hatfield Lane, Goshen,
from 4:30 p.m. on February 20 until 10:30 a.m. on February 21;
• Excel Urgent Care, 1 Hatfield Lane, Goshen, between 8 a.m. and
11:30 a.m. on February 21; and
• Orange Regional Medical Center, Emergency Department, 707 E. Main
Street, Town of Wallkill, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on February 21.
The health department said those times reflect the period that the infected
person was in those areas and a two-hour period after the individual left
the area, as the virus remains alive in the air and on surfaces for up
to two hours.
Persons lacking immunity or who are not sure if they have been vaccinated
should contact their doctor if they develop measles symptoms, including
a fever, rash, cough, conjunctivitis or runny nose.
Symptoms usually appear in 10 to 12 days after exposure. Individuals who
may have been exposed and who lack immunity could begin experiencing symptoms
at this time.
The health department said measles is a highly contagious respiratory
disease caused by a virus that is spread by direct contact with nasal
or throat secretions of infected people. Individuals first develop a fever,
then may have a cough, runny nose and watery eyes, followed by appearance
of a rash.
