HOUSTON \u2013 With just weeks to go before Houston hosts its first FIFA World Cup match, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo addressed growing public concerns over Ebola cases connected to central Africa and what that could mean for the region during the international event.<\/p>\n
During a livestream update posted Sunday night, Hidalgo emphasized that while the situation is being taken seriously, officials are not sounding the alarm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are okay,\u201d Hidalgo repeatedly reassured residents throughout the briefing. \u201cRight now, it is a time to inform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houston is scheduled to host seven FIFA World Cup matches at NRG Stadium beginning June 14, while also serving as a base camp location for the Democratic Republic of Congo national team.<\/p>\n
The concern comes after the federal government announced that George Bush Intercontinental Airport will become one of only three U.S. airports designated to receive travelers arriving from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan amid an Ebola outbreak in the region.<\/p>\n
According to Hidalgo, seven Harris County residents who had recently been in Uganda arrived in the Houston area over the last several days.<\/p>\n
Two arrived Sunday, while five more arrived Monday.<\/p>\n
She said all seven travelers were screened by federal authorities in Dallas and Washington, D.C., before continuing on to Houston.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be clear, none of them have tested positive for Ebola,\u201d Hidalgo said. \u201cIn fact, none of them are showing any symptoms of illness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization has declared the current outbreak a public health emergency. Hidalgo said there are currently 10 confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with suspected cases estimated to be much higher.<\/p>\n
How screening works at IAH<\/p>\n
Hidalgo walked viewers through the current screening and monitoring process for travelers arriving from at-risk countries.<\/p>\n
According to the county judge:<\/p>\n
Travelers are screened by the CDC upon arrival in the U.S. <\/p>\n
Officials conduct temperature checks and health questionnaires. <\/p>\n
Passenger information is shared with local health departments. <\/p>\n
Harris County epidemiologists are assigned to monitor local residents returning from those regions. <\/p>\n
Travelers are asked to take their temperature twice daily for 21 days. <\/p>\n
Health officials conduct daily check-ins and can perform home visits if necessary. <\/p>\n
Hidalgo also noted that travelers showing symptoms or those with known exposure to Ebola patients could be isolated or quarantined.<\/p>\n
She said two hospitals in the Houston area have already been designated for isolation treatment if needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNowhere near as transmissible as COVID\u201d<\/p>\n
A major point of Hidalgo\u2019s message focused on calming fears about transmission during the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe likelihood of you or I getting Ebola from someone in airport security or by sitting next to somebody on the Metro on your way to the World Cup is extremely low,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hidalgo stressed that Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids from someone who is severely ill \u2014 not through casual public interaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a virus that\u2019s transmitted person-to-person unless you\u2019re taking care of a very sick person with Ebola or even a corpse,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
She also referenced the 2014 Ebola case in Dallas, noting that despite a patient spending time at home with family members while symptomatic, only two ICU nurses later contracted the virus.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 With just weeks to go before Houston hosts its first FIFA World Cup match, Harris County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[108905,37274,18957,111507,405,36176,584,56,58,57,111506,66,223,731,154,3692],"class_list":["post-308493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-ebola","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-foootball","tag-harris-county","tag-harris-county-judge-lina-hidalgo","tag-health","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-linda-hidalgo","tag-local","tag-news","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}