Clallam County public health officials have contacted people known to have met a man diagnosed with measles while he was contagious.
As of today, they had traced what Christina Hurst, public health programs manager for Clallam County Health and Human Services, called “exposure sites” visited by the middle-aged man who remained in Olympic Medical Center.
Hurst said individuals known to have been in contact with the measles patient had been warned about the illness.
Hurst said the department hoped to provide to the public soon with a list of public places such as stores or restaurants the man had visited while he was contagious.
Residents then can call the department for advice at 360-417-2274.
The patient no longer is infectious but remains at OMC with what Hurst called “underlying health issues.”
The unidentified man went to OMC’s emergency room on Sunday. Tests confirmed that he had measles. Officials have not determined where he got the disease.
Some Washington state cases have been traced to the so-called Disneyland outbreak of late December; others, to travelers returning through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from South America.
Meanwhile, the hospital announced that 99 percent of its personnel have been immunized for measles.
One health care worker who had not been vaccinated and who was in the emergency room when the man was hospitalized has been sent home until the contagion period has passed, OMC officials said.
