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Exposed to measles in North Carolina: can you go to work?

If you have no written record of protection, North Carolina says to stay home for 21 days from the exposure. Its guidance says “Quarantine for 21 days” for a contact who is not immune, and “No quarantine needed if MMR received” for someone given the vaccine in time — which its own document puts at “within 72 hours of exposure”. Find the day you were last exposed in the table below and the dates are yours.

This is North Carolina's rule and no one else's. Other states count differently — some run their exclusion from the fifth day rather than the first — so if your exposure was in another state, the numbers here are not yours. CDC publishes no rule for ordinary workplaces at all; its 5-to-21 wording is written for hospitals.

Your dates

Counted from the last day you were exposed, not the first. Recomputed for 2026-10-29, and your own device's date is applied to the table below.

Every date in this table is North Carolina's own 21 days, counted from your last exposure — NC DPH — Measles Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) for Non-Symptomatic Susceptible Contacts, version 3/2026. This page reports that rule; it does not issue one.

If you were given the antibody shot (immune globulin), the watching runs longer — 28 days from your exposure, not 21. That is one week later than the last column of your row. Staying home is unchanged; it is the watching that is extended.

Whether this row is yours at all

• Two documented doses of a measles vaccine, or a lab test showing immunity: the quarantine line is not yours. NC's document describes the contact it applies to as “a person over 1 year of age without documentation of at least one MMR or other evidence of immunity”.
• You were given MMR within 72 hours of the exposure: NC says “No quarantine needed if MMR received”. After 72 hours the vaccine is still worth asking about, and the 21 days still apply.
• One documented dose, and you work in health care, a nursing home, child care or a school: one dose is not the standard NC applies to you — it asks for two for adults at high risk. Call the county line and say where you work.
• Anything damping your immune system — chemotherapy, a transplant, steroids, a drug for arthritis or bowel disease — puts you here whatever your record says and whenever you were born.

What to tell your employer, word for word

Take the two dates from your own row above — the one that starts with the day you were last exposed — and put them in the blanks. Employers ask for dates, not for a rule.

I was exposed to measles on the date you were there. The health department's guidance is to stay away from work for 21 days from the exposure. My last day at home is "stay home through", from your row and I am back at work on "back at work", from your row. I am not sick. If you need it confirmed, the county health department is who to call, and I will ask them what they can put in writing for you. I want to work — tell me what you need and I will ask them for it.

You are not obliged to say who exposed you, or where. If your employer wants confirmation, the county line can speak to them; this page cannot, and nothing here obliges an employer to accept it.

If your exposure is one we have published

These carry the hours, the place, and the number for that county:

• Measles exposure — Holiday Inn Express, Asheville NC, Aug 26 2026The line for this one: 828-250-5109
• Measles exposure — Exxon, 1920 Four Seasons Blvd., Hendersonville NC, Aug 25 2026The line for this one: 828-694-6019

Not there? That means no page has been published for your exposure — not that you were not affected. The dates above still apply, and the number on your own notice is the one to call.

Sources

• NC DPH — Measles Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) for Non-Symptomatic Susceptible Contacts — version 3/2026

This is not medical advice and this is not an official government site. Every date and rule on this page is computed from, and quoted out of, the official documents named and quoted at the foot of this page. If you are unsure, call the number listed rather than relying on this page.

The other North Carolina page on this site: Rabies at the Farm Adventures petting zoo — were you there? Ten dates across seven counties, with the health department number for each, which the State's own notice prints for none of them.