JDGRUEN

The only thing worse than a Non proven mRNA vaccine from a Western Country Source is a half-assed Chinese vaccine. Total Lunacy

In my case the IRS used the Direct Deposit account settings I have for my monthly Social Security.  I can't imagine why anyone would still use a paper check sent by Snail Mail. My American friends all do about the same. I have my money auto forwarded from my USA bank by TransferWise Borderless ... It is all quite seamless, informative, reliable and plenty quick enough. 

ASININE... Govt. Policy... One Govt bureau says Open Up - The other says Close Down.

The whole economy of Thailand will continue to plod along being drug down by a stifling recession related to no tourism. The number of underemployed Thais is huge beyond huge.  Not to mentioned the hopelessly unemployed.

The hardships imposed by those with a Salary - Government Salary (not one paycheck missed since January 2020) is totally out of kilter with the personal and collective suffering of a huge percentage of Thai Society. Oh and please do not quote the Thai GDP... The GDP does not buy rice, fish, chicken, etc. for the many affected Thai people. 

This huge Covid outbreak is directly related to the Thai Govt. policy since March of Provincial Lockdowns, travel restrictions, border closure - all done in a vain attempt to treat the whole of Thailand as a huge Quarantine Hotel Room. The CCP Virus cannot be controlled by Lockdowns and Entry restrictions which stops cold any building of Herd Immunity. Now we have most of the Thai population having never been exposed to the Wuhan Virus. So now an internal Covid outbreak fueled by a cluster of infected migrants creates chaos and fear when gradual exposure since last February would have created herd immunity. 

Oh and you Fear Mongering Folks - please buy yourself a Hazmat Suit.  Best to even sleep in it. 

I contracted Chikungunya disease a year ago in July 2019.  Much much worse than Dengue which I had 6 years ago.  Having a fair bit of medical education and experience... even though deathly sick I summed up some medications that would help relieve the drastic symptoms... Every joint knees, shoulders, elbows, fingers and feet felt like the most severe arthritis one could imagine. An extremely odd sensation was it felt like my feet had sharp broken glass shards glued to the soles. Then the headache and other well documented symptoms came, initial nausea, etc. Going to the bathroom was a nightmare of pain - getting up then sitting down - then up again was a screaming episode. Good thing I live alone... scared my cats though. The primary relief drug was a Cox-2 inhibitor (in the family of Celebrex) - it quelled the ultra strange glass on sole of the feet sensation - plus the joint pains.  This allowed me to think more clearly. My appetite was Zero.  For more than two weeks I ate nothing. I just drank water, tea, coke, & juice. I lost about 12 kilograms of weight. I lost 90% of my sense of taste and smell. I was overweight but began to look like a skeleton in my upper torso. My head and neck became a pencil neck. 

The rest was a slow regaining of nutrition - yogurt, then soup, then progressively back to near somewhat normal.  Next was a month of convalescents. My clothes practically fell off me. The remarks people made reassured me I was not imagining things. It took twelve months before weight regain became noticeable. 

Children are not "catching" Covid-19 at any appreciable rate comparable to adults... And children are not spreading Covid-19 at any appreciable rate.  Children are not - nor have they been the drivers of this disease. This phenomenon has been observed and  has been discussed since the beginning of this epidemic. Yes some children do "catch" Covid-19. But the rate of infection of children is very low. 

I know people of this thread will gag and cough that I have not cited a medical source. The problem is if I cite a source there are some here who will then yell loudly that my source is not correct or good enough - BUT THEIR SOURCE IS. Then on and on and on. 

But I have noticed that in this thread those who disagree are not citing any source or statistics to prove that children are infected at a rate comparable to adults. The highest rates are over age 64 with serious co-morbidities. 

Two times now the Thai Govt. via Thai Immigration has given plenty of time to solve an Extension / Visa problem BUT no mechanism to do it with. That is if one is a holder on a Non Imm. ME O Visa for Marriage or Non Imm. ME B (Business)... 

Only the standard One Year Only way out to date gas been an Extension of Stay with lengthy documentation / money in the Bank and a very high fee (padded with tea money)... Many if not Most such Visa holders cannot get the proofs and cash together.  A quite legal method (over a decade) for staying with family or working ğ running a business snuffed out for thousands. The necessity of creating an alternate way of making a virtual border run has escaped the Thai Immigration officials thought process since at least March.  Handcuffed to old "process and procedures" cannot be changed because of the petrified - fossilized mindset.

"Well uh well uh we have to have what we have always had...  you know... the Farang has to sign his name 125 times in 10 cm of documents. 

Two weeks ago I saw the coming Extension of the Amnesty as a total replay of the previous one... I got all my Docs together and paid 15,000 Baht for a 1,900 Baht fee. Now I have a one year Extension of Stay converted from my Non Imm B ME Visa. An yes, I signed my name over 125 times.  Ah! Ain't Flexibility Grand. 

Unless and Until the Thai Govt. allows Thai Immigration to change policy and procedures asap before Sep. 26 then there is no way the OP can get what he wants legally (that is without heavy duty tea money) 

Same goes for Non Imm B & O Multi-Entry Visa Holders needing a Border Run to get stamped back in for another 90 day stay - not going to happen without changes in policies and procedures at Thai Immigration. 

Plenty of time has been granted but no mechanism available to do much of anything. 

Before someone blurts it out - Yes I am aware of the standard method for B or O Visa Holders to get a One Year Extension of Stay at Immigration. 

I did just this a little over a week ago.

But most holders of B or O One Year Multi-Entry Visas do not have the qualifications or funds in the Bank to do it. 

The more than a decade old legal ability for Expats to do a Border Run for a new 90 day stay is dead until immigration police orders are changed or borders become open as normal. 

OP you are part of the large number of people overlooked in these "Amnesty" Grace Period. Plenty of time to get things done. But no mechanism to do what has been quite legal for over a decade. 

The others similarly situated are those who hold Non Imm. B or O Multi-Entry (Business or O for Marriage) These people (many thousands) have to make a Border Run / Border Bounce every 90 days. Again - an allowed quite legal mechanism to make a long stay in Thailand. 

OP - your situation is even more complicated but same - same only different ????.  As has been pointed out unless and until Thai Immigration (with permission of central government officials) begin performing the needed procedures at the local Immigration and Labor Ministry offices it is a dead end for most.  Also as stated certain procedures could be done now (usually by hiring an Agent) for certain amounts of real fees and lots of "tea money". 

I have no idea how it can be resolved in a normal fashion unless and until Thai Govt. , Thai  Immigration and the Labor. Ministry act. 

I was on a Non Imm B Multi-Entry Visa until last week.

However, being boxed in with no ability to do a Border Run to get another 90 day stay between now and the end of September, I applied for an received a One Year Extension of Stay of my B Visa based on meeting the qualification requirements in all regards - plus a fat fee. 

Actually another Amnesty "extension" or whatever they will call it would be okay... But it would obviously be better. - if we could cross borders same as before with no 14 day Quarantine on either side, no super costly Covid Insurance, no mandatory Covid Tests... just waive all that.
For just border runs the neighbor countries could cooperate by having a Border I/O walk a batch of Passports to a halfway point between Checkpoints - hand them off to the neighbor Border I/O - get them stamped and return to the halfway point... A fee could be charged.
Nobody crosses the border. This was actually done at Ranong shortly before Myanmar closed its border.  It worked well.

Folks there are Long Stay people affected too. Thousands of people on Non Imm. Multi-Entry B and O Visas who have been cut off from performing legally allowed Border Runs / Border Bounces to gain another 90 days allowed under Immigration law. The Thai Border is still closed. And Thailand does not have control of neighbor country borders nor any control of regional countries' entrance restrictions by air.

The period of time allowed to foreigners until July 31 is Not an Extension. A visit to my Immigration Office a few weeks ago to get a simple Certificate of Residence to get a bank loan extended Was Refused by the Chief I/O. He said I cannot - you are not under any Official Extension therefore I cannot sign any document you would get if you were under an Extension. 

TransferWise works very well. You can use the TW App, setup the account to move money using your U. S. Bank Debit Card. Money starts moving right away. It takes only a few hours. With the TW App on your Phone or Tablet you will know the Exchange Rate and Fees before you commit 

The statements that Hydroxychloroquine does no good to help Covid-19 patients and actually hurts them is based on a very flawed retrospective study of Veterans Affairs hospitals in the USA. This study was never peer reviewed, had no consistency in patient handling, had no controls of any kind - nor even any consistency in drug dosage or length of drug administration. Plus the veterans were all quite old - all had serious pre-existing conditions (heart, lung, diabetes, kidney problems, etc., etc. The medications did not include Zinc - a viral part of the Cocktail dosage of Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, and Zinc. 

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In contrast... 

A TALE OF TWO DIFFERENT MEDICAL APPROACHES

Washington (Kirkland) nursing home: No hydroxychloroquine, 35 deaths out of 120 residents

Texas nursing home: Treatment WITH hydroxychloroquine, 1 death out of 135 residents

H/t: 
JamesTodaroMD

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And in general the reason this drug trio has not been double blind tested is because in the middle of an Epidemic it is highly unethical (and illegal) to deny a control group of Covid-19 disease patients any type of a curative drug and be given an inert placebo to act as a control group.

French Virologist Dr. Didier Raoul has  use Hydroxychloroquine on 80 Covid-19 patients - 78 were cured. With significant findings that after a 5 day average the patients could be moved to regular ward to convalesce with family. 

Dr. Raoul discovered the effectiveness of the drug compilation that suppressed the Corona Virus released the findings of his latest much more comprehensive results to the effectiveness of the drug combination hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.

STUNNING POSITIVE RESULTS

Here is a copy of the 2nd study done by French foctors showing the overwhelming success of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. 
 
 
We need an effective treatment to cure COVID-19 patients and to decrease the virus carriage duration. In 80 in-patients receiving a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin we noted a clinical improvement in all but one 86 year-old patient who died, and one 74 year- old patient still in intensive care unit. A rapid fall of nasopharyngeal viral load tested by qPCR was noted, with 83% negative at Day7, and 93% at Day8. Virus cultures from patient respiratory samples were negative in 97.5% patients at Day5. This allowed patients to rapidly de discharge from highly contagious wards with a mean length of stay of five days. We believe other teams should urgently evaluate this cost-effective therapeutic strategy, to both avoid the spread of the disease and treat patients as soon as possible before severe respiratory irreversible complications take hold.

Given the urgent therapeutic need to manage this disease with effective and safe drugs and given the negligible cost of both hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, we believe that other teams should urgently evaluate this therapeutic strategy both to avoid the spread of the disease and to treat patients before severe irreversible respiratory complications take hold.

18 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

It is prudent to maintain the restrictions for another week and perhaps longer .. It was the 2nd infection wave of the 1918 flu pandemic that caused more deaths than the first .. There are infected people as yet undetected within the communities of Thailand who could kickatart a 2nd wave of infections if it is eased too soon ..

Wow - 

18 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

It is prudent to maintain the restrictions for another week and perhaps longer .. It was the 2nd infection wave of the 1918 flu pandemic that caused more deaths than the first .. There are infected people as yet undetected within the communities of Thailand who could kickatart a 2nd wave of infections if it is eased too soon ..

Wow! The fear eats some people up. The 1918 Spanish Flu was a killer virus. On a scale of 1 to 10 the 1918 Flu was a 9.99 killer while Covid-19 would barely rate a 4.0. Get a grip

On 4/4/2020 at 1:01 AM, KhaoYai said:

That viewpoint is rapidly diminishing. Your reality is wrong in fact, otherwise healthy people are dying here in the UK. The deaths of 2 nurses on the frontline of the fight against this disease were announced today, yesterday a 13 year old and a 19 year old - I believe they were both previously in good health. There are many more - those are just the ones that made the headlines,

 

This virus is highly contageous, more so than any of the others you mention. None of those resulted in worldwide lockdowns or the economic meltdown that is beginning.  This is the most serious situation the world has faced since WW2. Do you think countries would be spending trillions on a flu?

You are exaggerating and embellishing this Corona Virus impact. Killer Virus - what 28 dead in Thailand since early January. Please go take a look at statistics for - YES the Flu. Brushing the Flu off without looking at the real stars is juvenile. H1N1 - Swine Flu had the following:  

   THAILAND: first week of February 2010, the Department of Epidemiology announced the second wave of the outbreak. From 3 May 2009 to 10 March 2010, the accumulated number of confirmed H1N1 flu patients totaled 35,446 persons. The number of deaths amounted to 208 persons, 105 males and 113 females.

Does anyone even remember? 

Worldwide the H1N1 stats are quite sobering. 

Covid-19. Has had 28 deaths in 3 months x 4 = 112. And the death rate is likely to be less than 28 each 3 months in this next 9 months. 

Italy was a total anomaly. Aside from having a large elderly population that is part of the reason for a high Covid-19 death rate in Italy... Many Italians in Northern Italy sold their leather goods and textiles companies to China. Italy then allowed 100,000 Chinese from Wuhan/Wenzhou to move to Italy to work in these factories, with direct Wuhan flights. Result: Northern Italy is Europe’s hotspot for Wuhan Coronavirus. The full Chinese presence in Italy was / is many times what I posted above 

40 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

Thai pharmacies are not allowed to sell prescription meds. 

berrec: I was told that Hydroxychloroquine can only be obtained at Hospital Pharmacies with a Doctor's script. It is heavily used for RA Rheumotoid Arthritis, Lupus and Malaria. Just claim you are worried about malaria (as a preventative).

Max69xl: I am not sure what you classify as Prescription. But in Thai pharmacies one can buy literally hundreds of different drug Over The Counter that would be ordinarily be Prescription/Script only in Western Countries. 

Govt. Logic and Rationale:

If lock downs and curfews don't work Ratchet it Down even more. How about considering what they are doing is not working. And study South Korea and Japan to see how those two countries started off with a big problem but managed to get the epidemic under control without destroying their country's economy. 

On 4/2/2020 at 9:49 AM, jcsmith said:

@JDGRUEN: On March 9th, the same day that Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson tested positive for it, and the same day the NBA suspended their season Trump was still downplaying it and comparing it to the flu. And putting Mike Pence in charge of it was more of a way of removing the responsibility from himself and trying to look like he was doing something than anything else. Pence is not a health care specialist, he has no medical background. 

The reality is that Trump's efforts to downplay the virus extended to Fox News, and extended to his base. To the point that they were on social media ridiculing it, and repeating the same claims. It wasn't until it really started hitting the fan and Tucker Carlson of all people started calling out guys like Hannity that they started to take it seriously. That starts at the top. From Trump's need to downplay the virus while now trying to pretend that he always took it seriously.

And another TDS - Trump Derangement Syndrome hater fulfills his day by connecting every possible action or Non action to the U. S. President. How about weeks and months of bogus impeachment bombardment adding deleteriously  to the situation in that short span of time. As a matter of fact the time line I posted demonstrated that the Trump Administration did take it seriously. Presidents have Administrators to handle situations. But in 2009 with H1N1 the Obama Administration didn't do squat to deal with a pandemic that was much more lethal that Covid-19. But I know you will find some convoluted way of defending the do nothing Pres Obama who went golfing while the Swine flu burned bodies