The health irony of Zapopan
Dozens of children took to the streets of Zapopan this Thursday with their faces covered. Not because of the smog, but because of an official order: mandatory face masks in schools in the face of a measles outbreak. The measure comes just when this city is getting ready to be one of the Mexican venues for the 2026 World Cup.
The coincidence is… let’s say, interesting. Four months before millions of fans arrive for Uruguay-Spain, health authorities are forced to tighten controls that we have not seen since the pandemic.
“The mandatory use of face masks in educational centers,” announced the Ministry of Health of Jalisco.
Secretary Héctor Raúl Pérez Gómez justified the measure due to the “increase in school cases.” The curious thing: no one offered specific figures about these school infections. We only know that Jalisco concentrates almost 59% of national cases.
Selective epidemiological memory
Here comes the good thing. While the Caribbean Series is being played in Guadalajara and the World Cup stage is being prepared, 15 schools between Jalisco and Aguascalientes suspended classes due to measles.
PAHO issued an alert this week: 1,031 additional cases in three weeks in the Americas. A figure 43 times greater than the previous year. Mexico leads the region with 1,981 confirmed cases.
And there is a delicious legal-political detail: Canada has already lost its status as a “measles-free country.” The United States and Mexico could follow in his footsteps. Both governments asked for a two-month extension to control the outbreak.
Irony within irony: The Trump administration withdrew from the WHO in January, just when we most need global health coordination.
The federal government insists on vaccination campaigns. Points at airports, stations… everything except recognizing that something failed in basic epidemiological surveillance.
Zapopan will be world news in June. For football, yes. But today it is because of children in masks walking to schools where, theoretically, vaccines should have been enough.
