By FERNANDO LLANO and FERNANDA PESCE undefined
ZAPOPAN, Mexico (AP) — The Mexican state of Jalisco on Thursday issued a health alert and mandated the use of face masks in schools as a measles outbreak hit the state capital, a key host city for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The measures come on the heels of an epidemiological alert issued by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) earlier this week over the spread of the preventable disease across the Americas, particularly in Mexico, which leads the region with 1,981 cases confirmed by authorities this year and more than 5,200 suspected cases.
Jalisco is the epicenter of the outbreak, with 1,163 cases confirmed this year and 2,092 suspected cases, according to Mexico’s government.
The measles outbreak in Mexico began last year in the northern state of Chihuahua, after a Mennonite child fell ill while visiting relatives in a region in Texas that was suffering an outbreak. Cases surged in Mennonite communities — which have high rates of vaccine hesitancy — and have rippled out across Mexico in the country’s biggest outbreak in decades.
Risk for outbreaks at World Cup
Scientists say rising outbreaks across the hemisphere are linked to declining vaccination rates. Mauricio Rodríguez, a microbiology professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico focused on epidemics, that cases have shot up in Mexico in particular because many communities in the country don’t have their full immunization schedule against measles.
That poses a heightened risk over the summer as the United States, Mexico and Canada – all which have seen rising measles cases – host visitors from across the world, he said.
“With the World Cup, many people are going to be visiting from outside (Mexico) and that represents a risk of introducing even more outbreaks from other places, Rodríguez said.
Guadalajara is one of the main venues in Mexico for the soccer tournament.
In an effort to rein in cases, Jalisco health authorities announced Thursday that masks will be required in Guadalajara schools across seven specific neighborhoods for the next 30 days.
Jalisco was the first Mexican state to take such measures as medical groups urged the local government to take urgent action, marking the country’s first such public health mandate since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Classes were also recently suspended in 15 schools in Jalisco and the central state of Aguascalientes due to outbreaks of the highly contagious airborne virus.
Efforts to control infection
On Thursday, students and teachers in areas surrounding Guadalajara showed up to classes masks and long lines would through vaccination centers set up in local government buildings.
Ángel Ivan Soto Mendez and his family were among those waiting to get a shot, and said they had already prepared for their kids to go to school with masks and disinfectant.
“If everyone doesn’t get vaccinated, there are going to be infections everywhere,” he said.
Canada lost its measles-free status in November and the U.S. and Mexico face the risk of meeting the same fate. Both governments have requested a two-month extension to try to control the outbreak, although in January the Trump administration withdrew from the World Health Organization, under whose umbrella PAHO operates.
In the first three weeks of this year, 1,031 additional measles cases were confirmed in seven countries in the Americas with no deaths reported — a figure 43 times higher than that recorded in the same period last year — PAHO said Wednesday in a statement.
The Mexican government has spent weeks encouraging the population to get vaccinated against the measles, which is preventable with two doses of the vaccine, and announced the launch of vaccination sites in places such as airports and bus stations.
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Associated Press journalists Fabiola Sánchez and Megan Janetsky contributed to this report from Mexico City. Pesce reported from Mexico City.
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