What You Need To Know
New Jersey will host eight FIFA World Cup matches at MetLife (NY/NJ) Stadium between June 13 and July 19, 2026, including the final match. Six matches will also be played in Philadelphia. Additional friendly matches, fan events, team base camps, and concurrent large-scale gatherings related to the America’s 250th celebration are expected to increase visitor volume and healthcare utilization across our region during this time. With many visitors from around the world expected in our area for these and other summer events, healthcare providers should take steps now to prepare for an elevated risk for public health events and potential healthcare impacts.
Key Points:
- Ensure all-hazards preparedness within your practice.
- Be aware of the potential for event and travel related disease, unusual clusters of illness and increased healthcare utilization.
- Healthcare provider reporting is a critical part of New Jersey’s ability to respond to health threats-know what and how to report diseases and conditions that require immediate public health action.
- Protect vulnerable populations from vaccine preventable illnesses, drug overdoses, and heat and air quality related illness.
- Stay informed by following NJDOH notifications and resources.
Action Items:
1. Prepare your practice and protect your patients:
- Prepare for increased patient volume and the potential for mass-casualty scenarios. Ensure your facility's surge plans are current and staff are trained on roles, procedures and protocols, including treatment and PPE, for an all-hazards response (biological, chemical, radiological/nuclear, or natural disaster).
- Anticipate the most likely health events to occur. Expect increases in heat-related illness, injuries, alcohol and substance-related presentations (including overdose), and infectious
diseases such as gastrointestinal/foodborne illness, respiratory illness, STIs, and travel associated illnesses (including measles). - Verify MMR vaccination status of staff in your practice and review availability of post-exposure prophylaxis for patients.
- Counsel vulnerable patients on prevention measures, including hydration, sun protection, and vaccination.
- Offer naloxone to patients or their families/friends after an overdose.
- Be aware of signs of human trafficking, and follow established protocols for mandatory reporting.
2. Ask about and document travel and event attendance.
- International visitors may present with communicable diseases which are uncommon in New Jersey (e.g., measles, malaria, dengue, typhoid, etc.).
- Ask every patient with infectious symptoms about their travel history and document it in your notes and EMR. (NJDOH travel history posters for your facility can be downloaded at FIFA Think Travel History/providers and FIFA Think Travel History/public.
- Incorporate travel screening protocols and flags related to active high consequence infectious disease outbreaks into your workflow to quickly identify and isolate patients at risk. CDC Travel Health notices can be found at Travel Health Notices | Travelers' Health | CDC.
- Document any connection between patient illness and event attendance by including terms such as "World Cup" or "FIFA" in the chief complaint or triage notes, and when reporting a communicable disease to the health department. This supports the health department’s ability to identify and prevent potential risks.
3. Review disease reporting protocols within your practice. Prompt identification, isolation and reporting to public health authorities is crucial to prevent the spread of highly transmissible diseases in your facilities/practices and communities.
- All healthcare facilities that serve as a first point of contact should review protocols to safely identify, isolate and inform while following recommended transmission-based infection control practices to provide medical care. (Immediately isolate patients suspected of having measles, VHF, MERS or tuberculosis using airborne isolation along with all other appropriate infection control precautions).
- Report all suspected or confirmed cases of immediately notifiable diseases and any unusual clusters of disease immediately by phone to the local health department where the patient resides or is staying. If residence is not known, report to the local health department where your facility/practice is located. Local health departments are available 24/7; if they cannot be reached after hours for an immediately reportable situation or public health emergency, contact NJDOH at 609-392-2020.
4. Stay alert for unusual disease patterns, clusters or outbreaks and report to the local health department per regulations (N.J.A.C. 8:57).
- There is no known threat currently, but astute healthcare providers play a vital role in early identification of biological threats. Be alert for severe or unusual clinical presentations that could signal an outbreak or intentional biological exposure. Potential indicators of intentional exposures might include unusual temporal or geographic clustering of illness, severe lower respiratory illness or hemorrhagic illness, atypical or unexplained febrile illnesses, respiratory failure, sepsis, rashes, or flaccid paralysis with cranial nerve involvement, and cases of uncommon, non-endemic pathogens in people without known exposure risks. Additional information about agents of concern (including anthrax, smallpox, plague, botulism, etc.) can be found at Fact Sheets | Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
5. Stay informed.
- Monitor NJDOH Health Alert Network (HAN) messages for updates and outbreak notices. o Monitor CDC Travel Health notices.
- Information on selected diseases of concern in participating World Cup countries can be found at https://www.njlincs.net/FIFA/Travel_Disease_Table.pdf
- Visit the NJ World Cup 2026 Health Hub (https://www.nj.gov/health/world-cup/professionals/) for additional resources for healthcare providers, trainings, and guidance for patients to stay healthy this summer.
Resources:
NJDOH has compiled the following resources for healthcare providers which can also be found on the NJDOH World Cup 2026 Provider Resources webpage.
General Health and Medical Planning Resources
- NJDOH World Cup Health and Medical Planning Guidance
https://www.njlincs.net/FIFA/FWC_Health_Medical_Planning.pdf - NJLINCS Health Alert Network
https://phm.njlincs.net/ - NJDOH World Cup Communicable Disease Risk Assessment
https://www.njlincs.net/FIFA/NJDOH_FWC_CDS_Risk_Assessment.pdf