South Austin restaurant takes action after measles exposure sparks business concern – KVUE
2025-04-29T00:11:00Z
The owner of Curra’s said she wasn’t aware that a person infected with measles had visited her restaurant until learning about it on the news.
The owner of Curra’s said she wasn’t aware that a person infected with measles had visited her restaurant until learning about it on the news.
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AUSTIN, Texas — As health officials begin contact tracing a second measles case in Travis County, some businesses are taking extra precautions to deal with the exposure.
Austin Public Health identified nine locations across Austin where the infected person visited, including the South Austin Mexican restaurant Curra’s, which has been around for decades.
However, owner Julieta Rodriguez said she learned about the exposure at her business through news reports and had not heard from health officials.
“My first thought was, ‘It’s going to kill business,’” Rodriguez said.
Immediately, Rodriguez said she hired a cleaning company to disinfect the restaurant over the weekend. She said she has also spoken to customers and staff since the case was reported.
“Every day, we clean,” Rodriguez said. “We follow protocol with health codes, so that’s pretty much what we can do as far as right now.”
Rodriguez added that she and her staff are vaccinated and have not felt any symptoms.
“What I can tell my customers is not to feel worried,” Rodriguez said. “We’re doing what we’re supposed to do.”
Public health officials stressed that there is still a risk of exposure even though the infected person was fully vaccinated.
“We know that a person who has been vaccinated is going to have less viral load,” said Dr. Desmar Walkes, the medical director and health authority for Austin Public Health. “While the patient did catch the virus, they only have mild symptoms and are able to rest at home.”
Walkes also shared what health officials are doing in terms of outreach after Rodriguez said she wasn’t aware of the exposure.
“We’ve been calling those businesses, and we’ll continue to do so to work with them to provide the information they need,” Walkes said. “It may have been that they hadn’t received that call as of yet.”
Walkes, along with Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and Travis County Judge Andy Brown, reiterated the importance of getting the MMR vaccine as they ensure it is the best protection against the virus.
“The key message today is that while we’ve had this second case of measles … the best defense is vaccination,” Watson said.
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