A meeting will be held next Wednesday involving the authorities and all Carnival stakeholders to discuss whether Carnival should be cancelled because of the Ebola threat and a recommendation will later be made to Cabinet. This was conveyed to reporters yesterday by Brig Anthony Phillips-Spencer, head of the National Ebola Prevention, Information and Response team (NEPIR) after its first meeting with representatives from various sectors, including security, military, fire and prison services, airport, Immigration Health, Tobago House of Assembly, ODPM, the National Carnival Commission, private and public-sector agencies.
NEPIR adopted its mission to integrate and co-ordinate all efforts to be pursued with all available capabilities to prevent Ebola spread and protect all in T&T. This includes responding and recovery aspects should any spread occur. Phillips-Spencer said the Carnival issue was considered at yesterday’s meeting in terms of NEPIR’s responsibilities.
NCC was represented by NCC chief executive officer Allison Demas. He said his team was given information that required that a full submission be made on the issue in subsequent discussions with all stakeholders. Spencer said that consultation would be held on October 29. He said his team would share its recommendations on the issue with Cabinet based on intelligent advice. The meeting will be held the day before the weekly Cabinet meeting. How Carnival will be handled will be the prototype for how NEPIR will determine how to handle other major gatherings, including those related to Christmas, sporting and cultural events. ”Carnival will be our yardstick to determine our capability on all of this,” he added.
After the meeting, NCC sources said at yesterday’s meeting the NCC proposed a meeting between the authorities and all Carnival stakeholders and civil society groups at the Queen’s Park Savannah on October 29.
They had noted Carnival is held in 54 regions in Trinidad and also in Tobago and there should be some caution on the issue since it was a significant contributor to the economy, from ground and air transport, restaurants and hotels, mas itself, and even banks which gave loans for costumes. They underscored Carnival is a “serious business.”
At the press conference, Phillips-Spencer said the team had several legislative proposals on the Ebola issue, including improving the advanced passenger information system as a priority. He detailed NEPIR’s plan.
Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) head, Dr James Hospedales, said the Ebola threat was significant since it was the largest outbreak ever.
He said while Nigeria and Senegal have been downgraded by the World Health Organisation, the situation continued in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea and the Congo.
Hospedales said while likelihood of someone among Caribbean islands or T&T getting Ebola was low, the impact it could have was catastrophic and all capabilites must therefore be strengthened.
Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation representative Yitades Gebre who commended the Government’s efforts on the issue, said the presence of the NEPIR team demonstrated T&T would be able to address the issue in an organised manner
Saying Ebola was a “no risk” situation for T&T, Gebre said each Ebola case could have as many as 75 contacts.
He said PAHO/WHO advised restricted movement of people from affected states but he felt as long as people did not have symptoms, they should not be banned.
Civil Aviation director Ramesh Lutchmedial said airlines worldwide were alerted by yesterday of T&T’s travel ban on Ebola-affected states and protocols would be finalised by the end of the week for steps to be taken in the event of a plane-borne Ebola case landing in T&T.
Office of Disaster Preparedness Management’s Dr Stephen Ramroop said the ODPM was handling training, including practising scenarios of Ebola entry via air, sea or land, and training people who would handle cases in the use of protective gear.
That particularly involves police, who will have to issue the quarantine order for a case. Ambulances are already prepared and the ODPM has “iso-pods” for patient transfer.
The Tobago House of Assembly’s Allan Stewart detailed Tobago’s activities.
Ahead for discussion is movement of people between both islands, transport of possible Tobago cases to the Caura quarantine unit and whether Tobago can self-support in the issue.
Phillips-Spencer said the team’s framework included points made by WHO’s checklist for Ebola prevention.
He said an integral requirement for the effort was that it required broad dialogue and not public-sector involvement alone.
“There’s no room for hit-and-miss in this and we don’t want reactionary measures after a case occurs,” he added.
NEPIR’s job
• Prevention: Monitoring Ebola and designing/building capabilities to scout outside T&T on risk of threats that could challenge T&T.
• Robust screening plan.
• Surveillance at borders/communities on what could emerge.
• Making full testing capability available in T&T and at international/regional levels from PAHO/WHO, Carpha.
• Information strategies and public community engagement to prepare public to ensure measures to prevent Ebola or respond/recover from any spread.
• Response on swift, effective containment, involving effective rapid response from various first responders (ambulance, fire, police, Defence Force, Coast Guard for sea-entry cases).
• Strong tracing capability to follow contacts any case may have had to halt spread.
• Extensive aggressive infection control and readiness to manage a possible case, including its removal to containment and protection of first responders/health workers involved.
• Case management relating to the proposed Caura quarantine centre and treatment centres.
• Managing burials.