July 2026
Reflecting on FIFA World Cup 2026 and Moving Forward
With Seattle’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2026 now officially behind us, we can look back on one of the largest events ever hosted in our region with immense pride. The games here in Seattle went incredibly smoothly, resulting in very minimal impacts on our regional healthcare system.
This seamless execution was not a matter of chance; it was the direct result of extensive pre-planning, unwavering coordination, and robust collaboration across our many different partners—spanning local and state emergency management, public health, and healthcare systems.
We want to extend our heartfelt thanks and deepest appreciation to every single partner who dedicated time, expertise, and resources over the past year to prepare for this monumental event.
This milestone truly highlights the impact of the Network. By fostering trusted relationships, facilitating continuous information-sharing, and driving regional readiness, we serve as the vital connective tissue that ensures our healthcare system remains resilient under pressure. When it mattered most, our collective foundation enabled coordinated and effective action.
The planning, training, and exercises conducted leading up to the games have left us stronger than ever. Moving forward, many of these resources and frameworks will continue to be refined based on operational insights and lessons observed during the tournament.
Current regional updates include:
As the rest of the summer progresses, our preparedness activities shift focus to seasonal hazards, including severe weather, wildfire, and air quality impacts building on the recent impacts we’ve seen unfolding over on the eastern side of the state.
We remain vigilant in monitoring developing risks and deeply appreciate your ongoing collaboration in supporting Washington’s readiness and resilience. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions at info@nwhrn.org.
Throughout the state, summer brings a unique and challenging set of healthcare response priorities most notably, wildfire season and the associated risks of extreme heat and degraded air quality. For the Network, maintaining regional resilience means transitioning seamlessly from a scheduled international sporting event into an agile, 24/7 posture designed to protect patients and preserve healthcare delivery during natural disasters.
While much of our work happens behind the scenes in planning meetings and training seminars, fire season shifts our operational tempo into high gear. At any given moment, the Network’s dedicated Duty Officer and Incident Commander are on call serving not just as a standard point of contact, but as a critical 24/7 resource for healthcare facilities across the region.
As wildfires move unpredictably into populated zones, emergency management agencies can issue rapid evacuation notices. For a healthcare facility whether it is a rural critical access hospital or a long-term care facility packed with vulnerable residents an evacuation notice is a complex, high-stakes emergency.
Already this season, our Duty Officer has received several calls regarding potential and active wildfire evacuations. When a fire encroaches near a facility, the clock starts ticking. Our role is to immediately step in to provide support and coordination, allowing frontline clinicians to focus entirely on patient safety.
How the Network Responds
When a wildfire threatens a healthcare facility or strains the local system, the Network activates its tools and communication structures to provide an organized regional response:
By serving as the central backbone of healthcare response, the Network ensures that even during the peak of fire season, Washington’s healthcare services remain continuous, coordinated, and accessible to the communities that need them most.
The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, is now the third largest Ebola outbreak recorded globally.
U.S. citizens returning from affected countries continue to be screened by the CDC at four designated U.S. airports. In Washington, many returning travelers are being monitored by our local public health jurisdictions with the vast majority assessed as presenting low or very low risk. Given the current trends associated with the outbreak, monitoring is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
The Network has been developing coordinated Special Pathogen (SP) workflow plans and a Communications and Coordination Checklist to help guide partner actions should a returning traveler become symptomatic or another individual screen positive for a potential special pathogen.
This monitoring has put an additional strain on our public health partners and we appreciate the close collaboration of healthcare partners. Maintaining vigilance remains essential. As we outlined in the special pathogens tip sheet last month, early recognition, timely communication, and a coordinated response are critical to ensuring appropriate patient management and the protection of healthcare personnel and the broader community.
Thanks to our DMCC partners who contributed to development of the NWHRN DMCC Framework and DMCC Operational Annex — they’ve now been completed, shared with response partners and available on the Network website. As part of our ongoing work, we will continue to update our plans and engage with our stakeholders incorporating any lessons learned from the FIFA World Cup 2026 Games. During the fall, we will once again be reengaging with our DMCC partners to continue to refine and review the DMCC process and frameworks that have been created.