Ebola threat in Atlanta ‘extremely low’ ahead of Congo’s World Cup match

Atlanta’s Congolese community has pulled back on the size of its events and watch parties. Initially, they expected thousands of fans from the DRC, but now, that number has dwindled to essentially zero. They will still host Congolese immigrants from around the U.S. and across the world.

Meanwhile, the threat for loved ones back in the DRC remains concerning.

“The outbreak in the DRC and Uganda is extremely out of control and very, very worrisome,” said Jodie Guest, senior vice chair of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

There have been 550 confirmed cases and 101 confirmed deaths in the DRC as of Sunday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, the risk for spread in the U.S. is “extremely low,” Guest said.

While Congo’s final tuneup versus Chile was postponed a few days after the Spanish city of La Línea de la Concepción canceled the friendly over health concerns, the match was played Tuesday in Orléans, France, behind closed doors. The team had trained in Belgium for weeks before that, and every player on the roster competes for clubs outside the country.

“Twenty-one days is the transmission period where we would expect to see anyone who had Ebola to have developed symptoms by that time,” Guest said. “That is the latest onset of symptoms, and you’re not contagious to another person until you have symptoms.”

Unlike COVID-19, which is a respiratory illness, Ebola is not airborne and only spreads through direct contact, such as with body fluids. Guest noted that the public and healthcare officials still must be ready for the possible spread of COVID-19, measles and other contagious illnesses throughout the global tournament.

The White House said the DRC national team delegation must quarantine in a bubble for 21 days, but aside from canceling a send-off in the DRC capital city of Kinshasa, the national team has continued with preparations as normal, citing that no one from the team has been to the infected area for some time.

The U.S. paused processing of immigrant visas for DRC citizens in January 2026. In May, the CDC implemented travel restrictions on those who have been in DRC, Uganda or South Sudan within 21 days. Mexico, where Congo will play its second group match, also announced a similar measure.

The heightened security comes as this Ebola outbreak looks different from years past, like in 2014-16. There is no vaccine for this strain, making it hard to contain.

Guest said recent cuts to public health have exacerbated this outbreak.

“Another huge complication is the dismantlement of USAID, which would have been a support with both funding and (for) workers during this time,” Guest said. “Our withdrawal from the WHO has hampered the containment of this, and we do not have thousands of people from the CDC who are experts in control and surveillance on the ground as we did in 2014-16.”

While authorities in the DRC work to handle the spread, the panic will also be met with some much-needed joy, too, as the World Cup nears.

“In the DRC, besides food, dance and music — soccer is like a paradise,” Mukendi said. “It’s like a Christian thinking about going to paradise. It’s a religion.”