Forbes
Baz Dreisinger Contributor Lifestyle
What’s the opposite of a global pandemic?
Trinidad Carnival.
The ultimate life-affirming ritual, a celebration of freedom in its most distilled sense, the Caribbean’s largest Carnival has of course been on pause due to the pandemic—leaving legions of devotees overwhelmingly distraught. But as vaccinations ramp up in the region, Carnival junkies the world over are asking one thing and one thing only: Will the bacchanal return in 2022? To that end, Paige de Leon of the Trinidad and Tobago Promoters Association, which represents carnival content creators in Trinidad and Tobago and beyond, chats with us about the future of the festival.
Should there or should there not be a Trinidad Carnival 2022? Make your best case.
The balancing act that every government and human being has been engaged in since this pandemic began comes down to the balance between lives and livelihoods, between lives and living. So maybe it is not about whether we should have carnival but more importantly whether we need to have carnival in 2022.
Carnival is about freedom. It was born as rebellion against oppression; enslaved people used it as an ideological weapon against their captors, a mockery of everything that held them hostage. The Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday was a time when enslaved people were allowed to sing their own songs, in their own language, and be themselves, portraying characters from their own stories—which their captors tried so hard to erase. They were permitted to abandon their captors’ systems of control and, as we say in T&T, “free up.” For us, in 2021, Carnival is still our opportunity to be free, to sing our own songs: Calypso, Soca, Rapso, Steel Pan. This is not something that we do just as an activity; it is a response to the call of a spirit that moves us to travel from every corner of the globe to be fully present in our own lives and pay homage to happiness. For two months, our little island explodes with light and life and becomes the center of the world.
That same world finds itself in impossible captivity right now. Since February 2020, when we staged our last Carnival on the streets of Port of Spain, we have all—not just in Trinidad and Tobago but the whole world—been in a state of deep melancholy. If the spirit of Carnival truly calls us to face our enemies, then maybe this is when we need it the most. Our most important assets—our culture, our people-assets—are largely idle.
Steel pan competition at Trinidad Carnival
ANDREA DE SILVAJust today I took a short trip just around Port of Spain to see if I could reconnect with the spirit that has been absent for such a long time. I went to visit places that house the three pillars of Carnival: steel pan, soca/calypso music, masquerade. I wanted to see for myself the state of “Ms. Carnival,” as we lovingly call her. The nostalgia was overwhelming. The sadness was overwhelming. Because we in Trinidad and Tobago are in so many ways at a standstill—just waiting! There is no magic in our land right now; there is only silence. And I think that we can all agree that the world needs magic to bring it back to life, to bring us all back to feeling free.So back to your original question. Why should we have carnival? the best reason I can think of is because we are poorer as human beings without it. It is the spark that lights us up. We need to heal. Maybe Carnival can be one of the incentives for safely leaving the pandemic behind by making intelligent personal choices—a way to apply a “Carnival mentality” to the global fight against Covid-19.
If there is no Carnival, how will it impact Trinidad and Tobago?
I will answer in the language of money—which everyone, even those who have never been bitten by the carnival bug, can appreciate. For Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is a serious make-or-break business, employing, both directly and obliquely, over 100,000 people. Carnival is not just about the two days of the parade, but hundreds of events that lead up to the parade and span the length and breadth of our two islands. It’s about pan competitions, parties, stick-fighting matches, concerts, singing competitions for children, mini-mas parades all over the country, factories making the mas, studios that record the music. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Around ten percent of the adult population of Trinidad and Tobago derives some element of their income from the staging of Carnival. Carnival generates direct injections of foreign currency to the tune of over US $74 million, in just the week prior to Carnival Monday and Tuesday; this money goes almost completely to small and micro-enterprises. Given the economic shocks faced by our country in recent years, most significantly the loss of revenue from the drop in global oil prices, the complete disappearance of the ecosystem grounding the largest entrepreneurial class in our country is devastating.
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POLIOMYELITIS IN TRINIDAD 1971-19721
THE HISTORY OF POLIOMYELITIS IN TRINIDAD1
“Poliomyelitis has existed in Trinidad in endemic form with periodic major outbreaks for at least 35 years. Table 1 shows the incidence of poliomyelitis from 1935 to 1971, Major outbreaks occurred in 1937, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1954 and 1957. In all but five of the 31 other years listed,
the number of cases was below 10, The disease has shown a recurrence in serious epidemic form at irregular intervals, ranging from 2 to 14 years. Trinidad's last major poliomyelitis outbreak from February to August 1957, like the present outbreak, was caused by type 1 poliovirus. A total of 300 cases were reported from widely scattered areas throughout the island.
Trinidad's first mass poliomyelitis vaccination campaign was conducted in 1963, stimulated largely by an increase in the number of cases that year. Official reports showed that 234,400 children under 10 years old, or 96.6 percent of the target population, received two doses of trivalent oral vaccine.
The country's second and most recent mass vaccination program was conducted in mid 1967, stimulated by polio outbreaks in neighboring continental South America. A total of 54.9 percent of children 3 months to 5 years of age received at least one dose of trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine, and 41.6 percent received two doses.”
“Since mid-1967, vaccination has been inadequate. As of December 1971, less than 10 percent of the children in Trinidad born after the 1967 vaccination campaign had received even one dose of poliovirus vaccine from the government. (Data regarding vaccinations by private physicians are not available.)”
IMMUNIZATION CAMPAIGN
This campaign reached 138,507 children or 84.3 percent of the target population.
CAMPAIGN EFFECTIVENESS.
After the government's national vaccination campaign, there was a rapid decline in the total number of reported new cases (Figures 1 and 3). The attack rate for children from 3 months to 6 years of age who had been vaccinated by the government between December 22 and January 10 fell sooner and more rapidly than the attack rate for those who were not vaccinated in this period (Figure 9). In the second week after this vaccination campaign,
“…the attack rate for the unvaccinated children was 17.6 per 100,000, compared with 5.6 for the vaccinated children. This supports the contention that the mass vaccination program using primarily trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine effectively curtailed this type 1 poliomyelitis epidemic.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
No.3 of 11.
“3. Legislation requiring immunization against poliomyelitis prior to school entry is recommended.”1
It is common knowledge that the above recommendation 3 of the subject report was adopted and made law by the political directorate. as is evidenced by the enactment of THE PUBLIC HEALTH (NURSERY SCHOOLS AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS IMMUNISATION) ACT, CHAPTER 28:03, Act 10 of 1973.
The period of the last polio epidemic, the commissioning of this report, and the implementation of its recommendations happened between 1972 and 1976. It was a unique period in the governance of independent Trinidad and Tobago.
During the period 1971 to 1976, there was no opposition in the Trinidad and Tobago parliament, as they boycotted the general elections of 1971. That decision may have helped the government of the day save the lives of that generation of Trinidad’s children (as the records do not show epidemic impacting Tobago) unobstructed.
The evidence before us clearly shows that surges in new COVID 19 infections in immunized countries globally, are among the unvaccinated, which is typical of the observations recorded by epidemiologists in the 1971 -1972 Polio report. Mass and mandatory vaccination as recommended, resulted in the eradication of polio in Trinidad, and in ensuring that Tobago remained unaffected.
The record shows that the government under the leadership of Dr Eric Williams, adopted, and legislated recommendations from healthcare professionals and experts managing the epidemic, which resulted in the accelerated and sustained reduction in new infections, and quickly, to the eradication of Polio in Trinidad and Tobago.
PUBLIC HEALTH (NURSERY SCHOOLS AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS IMMUNISATION) AC...
Carnival 1972 was postponed as a result of the polio epidemic, and then rescheduled to May of that same year, primarily because of the success of the mass immunization program, and the positive results it yielded. International, today we see events of mass gatherings being convened with crowds comparable to Panorama.
What will happen to Carnival 2022?
Many learned and experienced followers and observers of the festival believe that it may not come off. I am inclined to agree with them, although I believe that a cooperative population could mitigate that possibility.
As the COVID-19 virus continues to mutate globally, the result of numerous factors, many of which thankfully, have been isolated scientifically, the only choice before (most of) us to resume to “play” comfortably from “pause”, is to get immunized. The continuity and sustainability of our beloved art form demands sensible decisions. I wrote in the discussion LEADERSHIP and VACCINATION “Consider the status of the quadrennial summer olympic game! The leadership of the movement must act swiftly and decisively. The IOC is not insolvent, and would earn significantly from TV rights and sponsorship in the absence of spectators. Pantrinbago and steelbands cannot afford that luxury.” In the absence of carnival, most steel bands have earned nothing for two (2) years.
If we want to save the lives and livelihoods of the next generation of the proponents of this beautiful art form, let common sense prevail.
Let us responsibly encourage vaccination (by example) among our ranks for the good of pan, and the future benefit of our children.
1. POLIOMYELITIS IN TRINIDAD 1971-1972
Written by Temporary Consultants of the Pan American Health Organization Lawrence B. Schonberger, M. D. - Epidemiology Milford H. Hatch, Sc.D. - Laboratory
May 1972
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE HEALTH SERVICES AND MENTAL HEALTH ADMINISTRATION CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL EPIDEMIOLOGY PROGRAM ATLANTA, GEORGIA
2. PUBLIC HEALTH (NURSERY SCHOOLS AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS IMMUNISATION)...
That is the question.
Very colorful language, but when it comes right down to it TRINIS JUST LOVE TO PARTY!!!