Someone With Measles Went to a Blazers Game — But Still No Reported Cases in Oregon

The Moda Center is the most recent Portland location to have a reported measles exposure.

A person infected with the measles attended a Jan 11 Portland Trail Blazers game, the Multnomah County Health Department is reporting. While there are no reported cases in Multnomah County yet, it increases the likelihood that a recent Vancouver, Washington outbreak could spread across the state line.

Clark County Public Health first reported a known case of the measles in the Vancouver area on Jan 4, and the number of confirmed cases had grown to 19 on Friday. The cases are affecting unvaccinated children in Clark County, which has the lowest measles vaccination rate in Washington state.

In Multnomah County, 92 percent of K-12 students have all of their mandatory vaccines, including the measles vaccination, but that number is significantly lower for some individual schools in the county. If a student attending one of those schools got the measles, which is highly contagious, the disease could easily spread to other unvaccinated students.

A measles outbreak in a community can also put people with compromised immune systems (including the elderly, infants, and people who have immune-compromising illnesses) at risk of contracting the disease.

The Multnomah County Health Department is warning of several Portland locations that Washington residents infected with measles have visited in the past week. In addition to the Moda Center, those places include the following:

• Verizon Wireless at Cascade Station
• Portland International Airport
• Costco on NE 138th
• Amazon Lockers on SW Jefferson
• Rejuvenation on SE Grand
• IKEA on NE Cascades
• Randall’s Children’s Hospital’s emergency department
• Magnolia Clinic on NE Broadway

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a list of measles signs and symptoms, which include a high fever, watery red eyes, and a rash that starts at the face and spreads down the body.