Overview
- Regional health systems finished a four-day exercise that involved 500 providers practicing airlifts of mock infectious patients from Toronto to LaGuardia using portable bio-containment units with local, state, federal and international partners.
- Hospitals near MetLife Stadium, led by Hackensack Meridian as the closest Level 1 trauma center, plan onsite clinicians and dozens of ambulances during matches with mass-casualty response built into game-day plans.
- Officials expect roughly 1.2 million visitors in the New York–New Jersey area and as many as 6–7 million nationwide during the 48-team tournament.
- Preparedness targets a wide range of infections — from measles, tuberculosis and RSV to malaria, cholera and Ebola — with training centered on protecting frontline staff handling high-consequence pathogens.
- The White House created a FIFA task force led by Andrew Giuliani that reports to the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate federal safety support for host cities.