Despite the postponement of Carnival to April, the parade of street blocks on the new date is still not certain in Rio de Janeiro.
Municipal Health Secretary Daniel Soranz believes that the epidemiological scenario will be much more favorable than the current one from March onwards. Even so, the lack of possibility of sanitary control can prevent the celebration of the street in the streets again.
“In relation to street carnival, everything is more complex. There is an organization to be done, but it is a carnival without any kind of sanitary control. Much more complex than carnival at Marquês de Sapucaí or an indoor carnival,” he explained.
Soranz, however, does not completely rule out the realization of the blocks. “Of course, everything will depend on the epidemiological scenario. I think it is very difficult for us to do this analysis before we understand the real picture of what will happen in the next few days”, said the secretary.
The City Hall of Rio canceled the street carnival at the beginning of the year, precisely because of the lack of possibility of sanitary control. Last week, the announcement was of the postponement of the Samba Schools Parade. The presentation will be on Tiradentes holiday, in April.
“In all the analysis models, it was not possible to guarantee the execution of the carnival with health safety on the date that was scheduled. So, the postponement was important, it will allow the rehearsals to take place at Marquês de Sapucaí”, said the secretary.
Street rehearsals by schools had been paralyzed in the capital of Rio de Janeiro since the beginning of the month, when Riotur recommended that they be canceled or carried out on the courts due to the increase in cases of Covid-19, after the arrival of the Ômicron variant.
According to the marketing director of the Independent League of Samba Schools, Gabriel David, the forecast is now that the street rehearsals will be carried out from the middle of February and the technical rehearsals will start in March.
Sanitary protocols for the parades, however, have not yet been established. It may be that the requirement for a vaccine passport and Covid test for school components and the public will continue to be valid, but it all depends on the epidemiological situation.
“It’s a somewhat uncertain, unpredictable Covid-19 scenario. The numbers indicate and what we analyze, with the curves of other countries, is a much more favorable scenario from the first or second week of March onwards”, projects Soranz.
Reference: CNN Brasil
