cryo

22 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Where can we buy N95 facemasks?

Because according to experts the surgical masks are almost useless against an airborne virus.

Today I asked in a hospital for the masks. The doctor told me he gets one mask per day. And he told me even high risk patients can't get any masks.

So much about protecting ourselves.

I guess the only "bright side" about this is that in many other countries the situation is not better.

If you do not preform correct surgical procedure for wearing and removing masks they are ineffective (fact) Ask any theater surgeon or nurse. Wearing a mask without the correct procedure gives you confidence but in reality nothing else, but it can prevent you from infecting others to a small degree.

10 minutes ago, Nick33 said:

always look on the bright side of life...

Didn't this Monty python guy just die?

2 hours ago, steve73 said:

Definitely dodgy....

 

5% of (the worst case estimate of) 10 million is 500,000.  

Official estimates rang from (0.1% age 1-20) (1% age 20-40) (1.8% 40-50) (2.5% 50-60) (3.5% 60-70) (13.6% 70-upover). Average mortality rate across all a age groups is approx. 1% of suspected infected cases (calculated infection rate not actual tested) These are China's figures up to date and are changing daily.

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Definitely not. That's not how most governments roll.

 

However, I think people should be seeing this as good news in the sense that the authorities here are FINALLY facing the seriousness of this.

 

But it would have been much better news if they had done that months ago.

 

It's a quite similar situation to the USA but with many specific differences as well. 

Still not facing up to reality as there appears to be a problem with all Government figures missing a number of zeros. The Thai Government has always had a problem with zeros just look at the tourist forecasts although that's an extra zeros problem. I worry for the Thai population as once the latest measure's begin to take effect lots of infected people from the city's will head home to older relatives ????

5 hours ago, Jingthing said:

People should probably start to update their thinking about this. 

 

It's not a hoax. 

 

It will likely infect the majority of people on the planet. 

 

It could take two years to do so. 

 

The international response is way past any hopes of fully stopping the spread. That is impossible. 

 

The plan is to slow it down so that health systems aren't overwhelmed during a short period of time which will mean many people dying that didn't need to as happened in China, Iran, and Italy. The USA and Thailand will both probably be the next Italy because both waited too long to properly respond. 

 

For those in high risk groups to die from this and yes that includes me you need to try hard to avoid being infected before there is a vaccine which likely won't happen for 18 months. 

The math's is very easy to do--Population * 80% infection rate (China expectation) * 1% (China mortality rate across all age groups) I will have to add age adds to the mortality percentage with those over 70 the figure is anywhere from 6-14% (China figures)

The answer will shock you. 

6 hours ago, bartender100 said:

Places like Frazer's in Jomtien will do well, as will other big pub come restaurants

Looking at what's happening in the UK no restaurant or bar will do well and the majority will fail in a very short time once the fear hits.

7 hours ago, swissie said:

Surely, health officials have recommended a 4 to 6 week "closure" (like everywhere else). But the TAT could not possibly go with that.
A 2 week "closure" is about as useful as closing the barn door after the horse has bolted out of the barn before.

Unfortunately for the people of Thailand the barn caught fire a couple of months ago but the government <deleted> department locked down the fire brigade. There hasn't been any doors to lock for a while whilst the horse has been grazing freely ???? 

They have lied themselves into a corner as I suspect stage 3 was passed a while ago and lockdown was shown to be the wrong decision in the case of the Spanish flu but many countries have gone into panic mode and instantly gone into lock down therefore vastly extending this pandemic. We will now worldwide have a cyclic pandemic as happened with the Spanish flu until an antiviral cure is found ???? Lessons are never learnt by the majority unfortunately and the same mistakes are made again and again ????

A case of a very large and fast denial hitting the buffers at a very great speed ???? Although loss of life is always preferable to loss of face once you have lied yourself into a dead end. TIT.

4 hours ago, glennb6 said:

Remember Purachai back in the taxin days? Anutin must be trying to out-do him.

 

If the govt declares the bars in Pattaya must shut down, stick a fork in it and say goodnight. Property prices will crash, businesses will close and throw people out of work, and crime will increase. Maybe half the locals can take up rice farming again...

 

I can't believe this is even being considered an option. Govt MIGHT be able to pull this off for a few days or a couple weeks, but if it's longer or indefinite, forget about it.

I would suspect a number of months at the minimum looking at the UK's forecast.

On 3/14/2020 at 8:36 AM, nightfox said:

Is Thailand just waiting to become the next Italy and south Korea???.....This is one ticking time bomb. But in typical Thai action they will wait until the death toll climbs significantly here and there is thousands of infections before they will decide to suspend all flights all bar all entries from Europe and USA. Its about time for once for Thailand put their people first ahead of the Bhat....But we all know that it wont happen

I foresee a very large amount of denial hitting the buffers at a very great speed soon ????

They haven't even got past baby steps yet so a long way to go to get up warp speed. Lets just call it very slow acceleration that will build up to warp speed some time in the very distant future. Once the government lie in Thailand the loss of face makes it impossible to tell the truth, unfortunately it will cost many older residents their lives ???? 

The number of positive cases are directly related to the number of tests carried out. The answer in Thailand is staring you in the face minimum tests = minimum positives. I have just returned to the UK from a month in Thailand and personally would not cancel a Thai holiday as I suspect the chance of catching covid 19 are just about the same anywhere outside of china and Italy but I would make sure my holiday insurance was up to date before flying and make contingency plans in case of flights delays when leaving Thailand.

Ken.

On 3/7/2020 at 7:54 AM, Davo369 said:

50 cases??? And the rest....

I would suspect at least three extra zeros have mysteriously gone missing here. They will probably appear on the end of this weeks tourist arrivals figures, so not actually lost. 

I think we all need to accept that the cat is well and truly out of the bag and this virus is now global and the chance of even well prepared nations containing this is low to minimal. Now consider if this virus, as it will gets to or already is in Africa, South America, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and a whole host of third world countries this will over days/weeks become a certain global pandemic so masks, gloves or goggles are there to make you feel good but in reality are just a placebo. We will just have to accept that until an antiviral is made to combat this virus a large majority in all probability will get this virus at some time or another in the minimum 6 months to a year it will take to achieve and test an antiviral. Luckily it has a low death rate and an exceptionally low death rate among people with a good immune system so I would consider this to be a serious wake up call to all of the world to show just how unprepared we are for the big high death rate one. I'm a realist and if anyone thinks we cannot have a pandemic similar to the black death with our modern medicine they are seriously fooling themselves. Luckily this corona-virus appears to have a low death rate but a high infectious rating the next such virus could have a high death rate with a high infection rating which would seriously affect civilization. One good bit of news is the research into crispr gene editing which probably in the next 10 years make pandemics like this quickly recoverable/preventable.

I would suspect the biggest issue is the condo building insurance If short time renters accidentaly burn part of the building down how do you stand for rebuilding insurance as you are technically breaking the law which I suspect will invalidate the condo building insurance, who pays then? 

On 4/8/2019 at 2:25 AM, mlkik said:

I keep 800,000 baht in a Thai bank for my retirement extension and the interest rate is as good as the rate if I kept it in a UK bank.

Better  if you have instant access.

No Bank will give a loan without the original passport being shown and also your bank should not have accepted an emailed copy as the jpeg can be easily photo shopped to show any person.

Ken.

Hi all I come to Thailand 2 to 3 times a year for 2 to 4 weeks to pay condo maintenance fees and have never been questioned but last month I was questioned by the lady on the desk who said 'NO VISA?" to which I pointed at the tourist visa I had just given her with my passport and she seemed not as easy as the immigration people usually are. I would say there is defiantly a change in the air as I have never been asked about visa's before and have always presented my passport and tourist visa and had them stamped then walked through. From now I will always carry 20k baht or equivalent which I usually have anyway when I enter Thailand or get a retirement visa from the Thai embassy in the UK to make my traveling life easy.   

Ken.

Hi all, my condo (4 rooms) is generally vacant the majority of the time and over the years I have had a few ceiling issues which if small and caused by a one off incident I generally fix/paint myself working on the assumption TIT . The only time I involve the neighbour above is if they have had a bathroom/kitchen revamp involving a so called thai plumber which is a guarantee of leaks being boxed up and walked away from . I tell the neighbour its not their responsibility as the problem lies with the plumber so get him back to fix the issue and charge him for any costs involved. I do not know why thai plumbers walk away whilst they know the systems are leaking I can only suspect they are used to dirt/concrete floors where such leaks just drain away over time. I have witnessed a few newly tilled floors that have had to be lifted to repair leaks that have obviously been knowingly boxed up prior to tiling??? If you insure your condo you are in a good position if a disagreement breaks out from neighbours above about costs as you can point out that you would have no problem if your water system had damaged the condo below you. The maintenance techs in my condo automatically assume that whoever owns the leaking pipework is directly/financially responsible for repairs caused to private property or communal property and are backed up by the management team if required. The issue above about drying up toilets is easily dealt with by cling-filming the top of the toilet before the condo is boxed up which will stop the water drying up for a few months and even with no water will seal the toilet, very easy to do and at very low cost. 

Ken.

2 hours ago, JAZZDOG said:

And then there is the problem with having a work permit which would be the best way to end the practice as far as farang owners. Even if a farang could qualify the WP would entail at least 4 employees and declaring 90K payroll per month. Without work permit the owner couldn't lift a finger, manage, reservations, even talk to guests. I know this is the deal in the hotel/guesthouse business. To make it profitable like you say one would need to own a block of say 5-10 that were purchased at a steal.

10 hotels shut down by the local Hua Hin authorities yesterday for not having a Hotel licence. It's only a matter of time before this becomes the norm as I believe a number of these premises were quite large and well established.

Ken.

No mention of unregistered businesses, non payment of tax, working without a work permit, money laundering. AirBnB is not illegal but using it to avoid paying tax or running illegal non registered businesses is and the Thai government is aware of this and is dealing with it. The Thai government has never had the ability to monitor these issues until now, but it now has the ability to pull the relevant info patterns out into the open using big data systems. For those people who do not understand what big data systems are they are interlinked computer systems running algorithms that specifically look for given patterns which given a reasonable amount of data on individuals (tourist, renter, bank account, business, visas etc) can easily pick out regular rentals and check owners against business registration, tax, work permits, etc. Big data systems are in use around the world by all big banks, industries, tax offices and you will find you cannot hide from them unless you are totally unregistered and only deal in cash which in this day and age is impossible. These systems have been and are being installed in all main Thai systems like immigration, tax, banking, licencing, visas, and credit card systems because these systems and the software that backs them up have a pay back of only a few years and then it is clear revenue for the Thai government so its a no brainier and an easy sell and install for the firms involved. I work for a firm who uses such a system to monitor worldwide operations of their process systems and the management of the said systems and you would be very surprised  how quickly the big data systems pick up regular patterns showing failure and mismanagement which once known can save millions of pounds a year. These systems are the ones the Thai government are using/installing which is why they require new data streams some of which you will see in the near future and some like the TM30 registration reintroduction you are seeing now. the days of Thailand being a tax free nation for Thais or Expats will be quickly numbered in the not to distant future. Big brother is already here and has been in the UK for the last 10 years and unfortunately and the number of countries where this is not the case is diminishing yearly. To those who disagree with this I will say you can only fool yourself for so long before they catch up to you so make your self legal and above board because once found out or caught you will be a constant income source for the legal or illegal force of the law. Sorry to be so negative but this is the present reality in the western world and is quickly becoming the reality in the far east and is the reality in Thailand now and if you think not that's simply because they haven't called out your number yet :-( 

Ken.

The link below is possibly another case to look for some other retirement plans. Another nail in the head for Patters?

Ken.

The link below is possibly another case to look for some other retirement plans. Another nail in the head for Patters?

<<<<Link to Bangkok Post removed>>>>

Ken.