A warning has been issued that some audiences of Avengers: Endgame may have been exposed to measles. The announcement is the latest of several outbreaks to have occurred across the nation, tallying the highest number of confirmed cases in over two decades, and less than a week after LA County issued one of its largest ever quarantine orders as a result of an outbreak.
Infectious diseases are at the highest dangers of being spread in large gatherings of people, and with the three-hour Avengers: Endgame drawing in some of the most regularly packed audiences in cinema history, people are being placed in proximity to one another for enough time to allow the spread of infections amongst one another. Unfortunately, it seems that though Avengers: Endgame's opening weekend was a triumph for Marvel Studios, it may have had some adverse effects to moviegoers in certain areas.
The LA Times is reporting that Orange County audiences of Avengers: Endgame may have been exposed to measles. The warning came after it was established that a woman, a resident of Placentia and who saw the film in the neighboring Fullerton, had contracted measles during her travels to another country where an outbreak is currently underway. After coming home she returned to work and attended a midnight screening of the film, and only afterwards realized she was sick, as people carrying the disease can be contagious for four days before the visible symptom of a rash appears.
This prospective new outbreak of the disease has been made all the more potentially widespread by the unprecedented success of Avengers: Endgame and the number of people it has been bringing together. Pre-sales of the film were so in demand that customers buying their tickets through online retailers Atom Tickets and Fandango experienced lengthy times waiting in digital queues and delays in the systems operating, while the website and app of AMC Theatres buckled under demand and was offline for several hours.
A further danger is the repeat viewings bringing potentially infected people back to unwittingly infect others. Films don’t swiftly shatter as many box office records - many of them previously set by Avengers: Infinity War - as Avengers: Endgame has unless people are repeatedly heading back to the cinema for several viewings. Making over $1.2 billion worldwide in its opening weekend, there has been little drop off in how much money Avengers: Endgame has raked in during the days since then, strongly suggesting just how many people are going back for second and third helpings of the film, only now with the possibility of getting more than they bargained for. Still, with this instance of measles relegated to one area of the U.S., most prospective Avengers: Endgame viewers don't have to worry.
Source: LA Times
