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The Mexican state of Jalisco has issued a health warning and ordered the use of face masks in schools amid a measles outbreak in the state’s capital, the main host city for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The measures came after the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an epidemiological warning earlier this week about the spread of the preventable disease across the Americas, particularly in Mexico, which this year leads the region with 1,981 confirmed cases and more than 5,200 suspected cases.
Jalisco is the epicenter of the outbreak, with 1,163 confirmed cases and 2,092 suspected cases this year, according to the Mexican government.
Mexico’s measles outbreak began last year in northern Chihuahua after a Mennonite boy became ill while visiting relatives in a region in Texas suffering from the outbreak. There have been cases in Mennonite communities – high rates of vaccine hesitancy – and in Mexico, the country’s largest outbreak in decades.
The threat of epidemics in the World Cup
Scientists say that the increasing number of epidemics in the hemisphere is related to the decrease in vaccination rates. Mauricio Rodríguez, a professor of microbiology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, focused on outbreaks, particularly in Mexico, where many communities do not have a full measles vaccination program.
That poses a heightened risk during the summer as the United States, Mexico and Canada — all of which have seen measles cases — host visitors from around the world, he said.
A Toronto doctor is warning about emergency room capacity ahead of the FIFA World Cup games, which are expected to bring hundreds of thousands of soccer fans to Toronto and Vancouver.
“During the World Cup, many people are going to visit them from abroad (Mexico) and this represents the risk of introducing more outbreaks from other places,” Rodriguez said.
Guadalajara is one of the main places of soccer in Mexico.
In an effort to control cases, Jalisco health officials announced that masks will be required in Guadalajara schools in seven specific neighborhoods for the next 30 days.
Jalisco is the first Mexican state to take such measures, marking the country’s first such public health order since the COVID-19 outbreak, as medical groups urged the local government to take urgent action.
Classes were recently suspended in 15 schools in Jalisco and the central state of Aguascalientes due to a highly contagious airborne virus outbreak.
Efforts to control the infection
On Thursday, students and teachers across Guadalajara showed up wearing masks to classrooms and long lines showed up through vaccination centers set up in local government buildings.
Angel Ivan Soto Mendez and his family were among those waiting to be shot and said they had already prepared to go to school with masks and disinfectant for their children.
“If everyone isn’t vaccinated, there could be infections everywhere,” he said.
Canada lost its measles-free status in November, and the US and Mexico are at risk of a similar fate. Both governments have requested a two-month extension to contain the outbreak, despite the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, which runs PAHO, in January.
In the first three weeks of this year, 1,031 more cases of measles were confirmed in seven countries in the Americas, with no deaths – a figure 43 times higher than the same period last year. PAHO said. Wednesday in the statement.
The Mexican government has spent weeks encouraging the public to get the measles vaccine, which can be prevented with two doses, and has announced the opening of vaccination sites in places such as airports and bus stations.