Evo 2019 attendees may have been exposed to the measles

Getting sick after a convention is nothing new. With thousands of people wandering around the same convention center, it’s no surprise that a few bugs would be passed around. But at Evo 2019, the biggest fighting game tournament of the year, the idea of convention illness was brought to new level: measles.

Late Thursday night, the Southern Nevada Health District released a report that a visitor to the Mandalay Bay and Luxor Hotel, who was there between Aug. 1 and Aug. 6, had a case of the measles. Evo 2019 was held Aug. 2 through Aug. 4 in roughly the same places, with most of the action happening in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, while meetups and warmups were held in the Luxor Hotel.

It’s unclear if the person had the measles was an Evo attendee or competitor, or just someone who happened to be at the hotels around the same time as the tournament. The Mandalay Bay Convention Center, where most of Evo’s competitions took place, was not listed in the SNHD’s report. However, due to the highly contagious nature of the measles virus, it is possible that Evo attendees were exposed either way.

Anyone who has had the measles vaccine is very unlikely to contract any illness from contact with the virus. However, symptoms of the measles don’t start showing until around 10 to 21 days after their exposure to the virus.

The earliest signs include a high fever, a runny nose, cough, and/or red eyes. The Southern Nevada Health District recommends that if anyone who may have come into contact with the measles virus has these symptoms they should contact their local health care provider to discuss safe way to enter the health provider’s facility without spreading the virus.

Evo representatives have told Polygon they haven’t heard of any reports of attendees affected.