New York Red Bulls players are celebrating after defeating the Toronto FC in an MLS football match on Saturday March 22, 2025 in Harrison, NJ (APTO / Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)AP
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At the Hudson de Secaucus regional hospital, the staff are preparing for the worst case that could come from a few kilometers away.
Hudson Régional is the closest hospital to the Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, where several football games at the World Cup next summer – the largest world sports tournament – should take place.
And 15 months, Dr. Nizar Kifaieh, CEO of the 200 -bed establishment, said that he had little advice from New Jersey health officials or event planners.
He does not know how Hudson Regional is part of the broader plan if there is an epidemic of illness or an event of mass victims.
Metlife’s matches – including the last championship match – will probably attract nearly 100,000 people each, including fans, staff and volunteers.
“There was no proactive state processes or someone else to contact us as the hospital in preparation for this huge event that comes,” Kifaieh told NJ SPOTLIGHT News. “What is the first phone call?” Is it going in the state? Does it go in a sort of command center that the state assembles? ”
The leaders of the World Cup and state officials said they started planning public health before the event – in addition to mapping transport and accommodation strategies. A national network of experts in transmitted diseases also strives to coordinate prevention, response and attenuation efforts. But the details did not reach those like Kifaieh.
“It would be great to see what the plan (and) make sure that everyone understands it,” said Kifaieh. “God preserves us, there is a mass victim event because if there is, there is a preparation problem, and there is a problem of capacity” with regard to clinicians and hospital beds, he said.
NJ games
New Jersey will welcome eight games Next year as part of the FIFA World Cup in 2026, which involves teams of 48 nations that participate in 11 American cities – including East Rutherford, the house of Metlife and Philadelphia – and five sites in Canada and Mexico. The final will be played in Metlife on July 19, 2026.
With the excitement Around the potential economic opportunities for participation in an event that generates global attention and can add billions of activities and income for each region, there are increasing concerns about the circulation problems related to games.
Health managers want public health to also be a priority for those who plan the World Cup.
All large-scale events have possibilities of food of food origin or the spread of transmitted diseases, such as COVID-19 and measles, but public health experts highlight the additional risk that is accompanied by hosting an international event that could involve rare or unknown pathogens in the United States
NJ health approach
“Global diseases for a global event,” said Dr. Kaitlan Baston, the state health commissioner, reminded the legislators in a conversation on the World Cup during a recent hearing of the State House on the State Budget.
“Our ability to detect, follow and respond to health threats depends on the investments we do now. We cannot build this plane as we pilot it,” said Baston.
This work is complicated by Federal health care cupsShe said, and the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization, a global organization that monitors the disease.
“To protect our residents and guests, we will need coordination. We will have to intensify laboratory capacity for quick tests, extend multilingual messaging capacities and carry out a lot of food security inspections, “she told legislators.
The disease experts are preparing
Transmitted sickness experts work nationally to prepare for the tournament, a total of 78 games over nine weeks that can accommodate 7 million fans, according to managers involved in the event, each game involving thousands of sellers and volunteers. The World Cup in Dubai in 2024 attracted people from 150 countries, they said.
THE National system of special pathogenA network of experts funded by the federal government designed to protect itself against new and evolving transmitted diseases, organized a table exercise in January involving more than 500 people nationally. By focusing on the potential health challenges during the World Cup, participants explored what would happen if there was an epidemic of respiratory syndrome from the Middle East, or Seas, a rare but potentially deadly coronavirus identified for the first time in the Arab Peninsula.
The executive director of the NSPS, Shelly Schwedhelm, an emergency management and bioterrorism expert in Nebraska, told Table exercise highlighted several challenges. The work continues to ensure that there is a laboratory capacity to test special pathogens that could be detected, which only certain designated test installations can do, she said, and to coordinate transport systems in the event that infectious patients should be moved to special care institutions, perhaps in state lines.
The need for communication
The table exercise also highlighted the importance of effective communication between the multiple federal, state, local and private sector parties, said Schwedhelm. This is amplified by the fact that some teams and fans – many of which may not speak English – will move between several locations, increasing the propagation potential of the disease.
“Let’s just say that we have a scenario where we have an entire family in New York with a special confirmed pathogen. And perhaps that because of the exposed exhibitions, we are not only talking about a regional response,” said Schwedhelm, given how exposed people can have traveled to the match from several states.
“Now we have to think about the situation as a whole. We owe in quarantine. We have to move people,” said Schwedhelm, noting that only selected hospitals are equipped to take care of special pathogen. “According to the pathogen, it can be very important,” she said.
In the New York-New Jersey region, the designated establishment is the Bellevue hospital in New York.
Public health preparation
Tournament planning meetings take place in the New York – New Jersey region. New Jersey’s state police lead the work in this state and the State Health Department was also involved, officials said. A meeting last week included representatives of local public health services. These local services, a network of more than 100 county and municipal offices, are responsible for a large part of the state’s public health tasks such as the monitoring of disease epidemics and the inspection of food sellers. The New Jersey Hospital Association was also engaged in planning the health service.
“Preparation for public health is a key element in our current efforts to ensure a safe and seamless experience for everyone. The commitment took place at all levels of the government, and intensive planning efforts are underway, “said Dr. Matt Steenberg, head doctor of the regional host committee, told NJ Spotlight News in an email.
The officials of the State police qualified the preparation for public health a “central component” of their continuous planning before the World Cup. The agency worked with local public health officials, emergency speakers and health care systems to build a “unified and resilient response network” to protect all those involved in events, said Sergeant Charles Marchan at NJ Spotlight News in an email, a process that, according to him, will continue to develop in 2025 and 2026.
“This coordination is vital to build a complete preparation framework and promote trust partnerships which are essential in large-scale and multi-legal events,” said Marchan.
“We believe that local expertise is essential,” said Marchan. “Preparation for public health is not only a piece of the puzzle – it is fundamental to providing a safe, safe and transparent experience.”
Several agencies involved
The officials of the New Jersey Association of City and County Health Officers, which represents local public health offices, fear that people will fall ill from eating food from sellers without license.
They fear that fans who are sick will go to the game, instead of losing a unique event, they have paid hundreds or thousands of dollars to see. And they know any epidemic that could mean that their staff is responsible for finding hundreds, perhaps thousands, other people who may have been exposed to the stadium or in mass transit.
“Enveloped in this area, linguistic and cultural concerns, which can make standard processes, such as education and contact tracing, all the more difficult,” said association president Linda Brown in an email. “The reality is that many agencies and levels of government take into account here.”
Brown and Kifaieh of the Hudson Regional Hospital also underlined the need for public education around health security, in particular with regard to transmitted diseases.
Schwedhelm said the organizers discuss screening protocols – perhaps the use of infrared temperature sensors or other technologies – during events, but reminding people to cover their cough and wash their hands is also important.
“From the point of view of transmitted diseases – infectious disease and preparation – we are not there,” said Kifaieh. “But look, we can say the same thing for all other countries, right? No country is prepared for the massive introduction of infectious diseases, at least not at the moment.”
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