During the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a surge of online discussions about gastrointestinal issues in Seattle caught the attention of Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, MPH. As CEO of Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE), she observed this trend, noting, "We’re like, ‘Oh, that’s weird. There’s an uptick of people chattering about this.’" This observation was shared with the Health Security Operations Center (HSCO), which subsequently identified a significant spike in adenovirus in the Seattle area’s wastewater. The findings were then relayed to local and state public health departments.
Jetelina is part of a team of nearly two dozen experts collaborating with HSCO to enhance public health preparedness for the World Cup, the largest tournament in FIFA’s history, spanning 16 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The HSCO initiative was conceived by Rebecca Katz, PhD, MPH, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security, who partnered with MedStar Health. Her inspiration stemmed from observing the public health planning for the event, which runs from June 12 to July 19. "I was very carefully watching where the preparedness efforts were and realizing… that this was going to be complicated. Fairness wasn’t quite what we thought it would be," she stated, explaining the origin of the idea.
The HSCO produces daily situation reports and convenes meetings to discuss public health risks relevant to host cities and team base camps. Their reports have been enhanced with additional data, such as that from an airport exposure tracker. When the HSOC detects public health indicators, like increased social media mentions of digestive problems and positive adenovirus results in wastewater, they notify local health officials. "They were very responsive and looked into it," Jetelina commented. "That’s the reality of public health. It’s a team sport, and that’s why HSOC is here to help—to help make others’ lives easier."
Innovative Strategies for Public Health Surveillance
The HSCO is employing advanced monitoring tools, including wastewater surveillance and YLE’s Project Stethoscope, to identify potential public health concerns across North America during the World Cup. "We really bring in what we learned during COVID," Jetelina explained. "You have an academic institution like Rebecca’s, a private company like mine. You have us helping coordinate and working with public health departments—really all of us at the table for one goal."
Katz has been instrumental in fostering creative public health approaches, such as social listening, which gathers "community insights data… concerns and confusion [that] we’re hearing from the ground." Jetelina then shares this information with HSOC and local public health authorities. "That’s been really, really fun and innovative to integrate with traditional sources," she added. The deployment of these newer technologies during the World Cup presents an opportunity for Katz and her team to gain a deeper understanding of their capabilities and how they can benefit public health in the future. "Because it hasn’t been used at scale, there’s no great playbooks on what to do with wastewater signals," Katz noted. "We are building a library of case studies in real time."
Resourceful Funding for Research
Katz has had to be resourceful in securing funding for HSOC’s operations, as the group is not receiving any federal financial support. "The finances behind this—we’re just going to call them scrappy," she admitted. "This is being creative and figuring out how to make things work." The budget has been pieced together from her research funds, grants from foundations like Pax sapiens, the partnership with MedStar, and in-kind data contributions from private organizations including Verily, Biobot, SecureBio, YLE, and Wastewater Scan. "Because they believe in what we’re doing, they’re providing us direct access to their data," Katz explained.
Currently, 22 individuals are employed by the HSOC. "It’s fair to say that everybody working at HSOC is being compensated, although probably undercompensated," Katz stated. "There’s a bit of commitment to the effort and willingness to do the work, even for the amount of funds we were able to pull together." Federal agencies, including task forces at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State, are also monitoring public health signals throughout the World Cup.