Possible Measles Exposure in Alameda County: What You Need to Know

Alameda County health officials are warning Bay Area residents of a potential exposure to measles in an East Bay restaurant earlier this month.

County officials said that a person infected with measles was present at the Sons of Liberty Alehouse on West Juana Avenue in San Leandro back on Saturday, March 9 — and urged anyone who was also at the restaurant between 4:45 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. that day to reach out to their health care provider and the Alameda County Public Health Department if they or anyone else present is unvaccinated or in a high-risk group.

They also asked others who may have been present during that timeframe to monitor themselves for symptoms of measles, which can emerge between seven and 21 days after exposure.

“At this time, we are not aware of anyone who developed measles due to this exposure at Sons of Liberty,” said Dr. Kavita Trivedi, director of clinical guidance and communicable disease controller at the Alameda County Public Health Department, in a press conference on Wednesday.

Jump straight to:

• If I think I was exposed in San Leandro on March 9, what should I do?
• Can I still get measles if I’m vaccinated?
• How can I check if I’m vaccinated against measles?

Trivedi said the county was now “acting out of an abundance of caution to reach people who may have been exposed” and stressed that this was not being treated as a measles outbreak. “This is a measles investigation,” Trivedi said, “and we want to be in touch with all people that were contacts of this case.”

Officials say that the infectious person who was at Sons of Liberty Alehouse on March 9 was unaware they had measles at the time of their visit. Trivedi also emphasized that “the patient did not become infected at Sons of Liberty,” but rather that “we believe the person contracted measles while traveling internationally a few weeks prior to illness.”

Trivedi said that Alameda County could not disclose the exact location of this person’s travel for confidentiality reasons but instead pointed people to the list of international countries with current measles outbreaks provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Keep reading for what to know about this measles case in Alameda County, what to do if you think you — or somebody you know — might have been exposed on March 9, and why the measles virus is taken so seriously.

I was at Sons of Liberty Alehouse between 4:45 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on March 9. What should I do?

If you were present during this timeframe provided by Alameda County health officials, they say that you should call your health care provider and also the Alameda County Public Health Department at 510-267-3250 right away if you (or your child) are:

• An infant 11 months of age or younger
• Not vaccinated for measles
• Unsure whether you’re vaccinated for measles
• Pregnant
• Immunocompromised (i.e., you have a weakened immune system)
• A health care worker
• A childcare provider.

However, Alameda County also said that everyone present at Sons of Liberty Alehouse during this timeframe should also watch for symptoms of measles. These symptoms can appear “in seven to 21 days,” say county officials, which means that if you were exposed on March 9 at Sons of Liberty Alehouse, symptoms of measles could have started on March 16 or could take until March 30 to emerge.

Those symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, and a rash that can last up to a week. Read more about the symptoms of measles from the CDC.

Alameda County health officials stress that if you develop measles symptoms, you should “call your medical facility before going there and inform them that you may have been exposed to measles so that the facility can take measures to protect other patients and visitors.”

If this possible measles exposure happened on March 9, why is Alameda County only releasing information about it now?

Alameda County health officials are “in contact with everyone that was exposed to this individual,” Trivedi said, and those people are being monitored to see if they develop symptoms within that seven to 21-day timeframe.

“The exposures at Sons of Liberty are the only exposures we don’t have specific names and contact information for — that’s why we released the exposure notification [Tuesday] to the public,” Trivedi said.

Trivedi stressed that the person involved was not aware they had measles at the time of their visit and later came forward. “Unless they already know they were exposed to measles, it typically takes time for people with measles to realize the nature of their illness, seek medical care and to complete the diagnostic testing,” Trivedi said.

“Once we have information about a measles case, we work as quickly as possible to identify and inform people who may have been exposed.”

I’m vaccinated against measles. Could I still get infected with measles from an exposure like this?

Four years of the COVID-19 pandemic have taught us that being vaccinated against a virus doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get infected with that virus. The COVID-19 vaccine, for example, does somewhat reduce your chances of being infected — although the CDC said that “protection against infection tends to be modest and sometimes short-lived” — but it also means you’re much less likely to get severely ill if you do get infected.

However, the measles vaccine is incredibly effective at protecting against infections, the CDC said, and two doses of measles vaccine are “about 97% effective” at preventing measles if you’re exposed. (One dose, the CDC said, is “about 93% effective.”)

As for why “about three out of 100” people vaccinated against measles will still get measles after exposure, the CDC said that experts “aren’t sure why” and that this could be due to the responsiveness of an individual’s immune system to the vaccine. “But the good news is, fully vaccinated people who get measles seem more likely to have a milder illness,” the CDC said — and fully vaccinated people “seem also less likely to spread the disease to other people.”

Remind me: What is measles, and why is it so dangerous?

Measles (also known as rubeola) is a very contagious virus that is spread through direct contact with infectious droplets. The virus can also spread through the air when a person with measles breathes, coughs, or sneezes.

“One person infected with measles can infect nine out of 10 unvaccinated individuals with whom they come into close contact,” Alameda County officials said in a statement.

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“As a frame of reference, a measles case is infectious four days before a rash onset when they do not know that they are contagious,” Trivedi said.

Measles can be especially dangerous for babies and young children. People who get measles can also develop complications, including diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia (an infection of the lungs) and encephalitis (a brain infection). In some people, measles can be deadly.

I don’t know if I’m vaccinated against measles. How can I check?

Measles is preventable with the combined Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, and vaccination against measles has been part of routine childhood immunization for decades. The CDC recommends that children get two doses of the MMR vaccine, starting with the first dose at 12–15 months old with the second dose at 4–6 years of age.

Everyone over 12 months of age is recommended to get vaccinated against measles, although the combined Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella (MMRV) vaccine is only licensed for use in children under 12 years of age.

Alameda County recommends that you check your immunization records if you’re uncertain whether you’re vaccinated against measles. You can also contact your provider or your child’s pediatrician for further information about protection against measles.

I thought measles was very rare. Why is this measles investigation happening?

“There are a large number of measles cases currently identified in the United States,” said Trivedi, who noted that in 2024, the country had seen as many cases of measles — 58 — in under three months as it did in all of 2023.

According to the state’s most recent data from March 13, California has seen four confirmed measles cases so far in 2024.

There had been no rise in cases in Alameda County, Trivedi said, “likely because of the high vaccination rates in our communities.” The CDC notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has generally impacted vaccination rates globally because “over 61 million doses of measles-containing vaccine were postponed or missed from 2020 to 2022” due to pandemic-related delays.

Trivedi also emphasized the importance of measles awareness and being up-to-date on vaccines when traveling internationally from the United States, noting that “globally, measles cases are on the rise due to low vaccination rates in some places.” The measles vaccine is routinely recommended only for children 12 months and older, so if you intend to travel internationally with a child aged between 6 and 12 months, you may be able to secure them an early MMR vaccination due to the measles risk they may face abroad being unvaccinated.

This story contains reporting from KQED’s Samantha Lim.

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