World Cup host city mandates face masks as measles outbreak spreads

Classes have also been suspended at 15 schools

The Mexican state of Jalisco has issued a health alert and mandated face mask use in schools following a significant measles outbreak in its capital, a key host city for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.

The move comes shortly after the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an epidemiological alert over the disease's spread across the Americas.

Mexico currently leads the region with 1,981 confirmed cases and more than 5,200 suspected cases reported this year.

Jalisco is at the epicenter, accounting for 1,163 confirmed cases and 2,092 suspected cases within the country's total.

The outbreak, Mexico's largest in decades, began in 2025 in the northern state of Chihuahua. I

t originated after a Mennonite child fell ill visiting relatives in a Texas region experiencing an outbreak, subsequently surging through Mennonite communities, known for high vaccine hesitancy, and rippling across the nation.

Parents of students wear face masks, made mandatory amid a measles outbreak, as they wait outside of a public school in Guadalajara, Mexico (AP)

Scientists say rising outbreaks across the hemisphere are linked to declining vaccination rates.

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.

The outbreak comes as Mexico prepares to host visitors from across the world for the World Cup, which will be held simultaneously in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Guadalajara is one of the main venues in Mexico for the soccer tournament.

Canada lost its measles-free status in November and the U.S. and Mexico faces 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.