Trujillo

"Dont get excited, today Tuesday reported 27 cases." 27 positive tests out of a population of 1,779,254 (2019 figure). Don't worry, I'm not getting excited.... ------------------------------------------------------------ -- When wearing a mask fogs up your glasses; what exactly do you think is happening?

"The honorary chairperson of Prachuap Khiri Khan Chamber of Commerce ..." What does the actual chairperson say? On a tangent, I checked with the Bangkok Airways office in Chiang Mai yesterday and they said that Samui has the 14-day island quarantine in effect but if you want to go over to Koh Phangan or Koh Tao, you MUST have been vaccinated -- either two doses of the Chinese medicine or one of any other. So I guess the "passport" theory has become reality here. My opinion is this mindset will keep Thailand broken for a very long time; maybe this is the new normal, ie, forget about tourism ever again. ------------------------------------------------------------ -- When wearing a mask fogs up your glasses; what exactly do you think is happening?

What "authorities" are the Thai overlords using as information sources? This is a serious question. Is it the USA's CDC? Is it the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control? Is it Bhutan's Royal Centre for Disease Control? Is it the Australian Centre for Disease Control? Or do they just throw darts at a bunch of handwritten Post-its? As far as I can glean, Thailand thinks that natural immunity isn't worth anything 3 months after infection, that requiring a vaccine "passport" in the "dark red zones" is a worthwhile idea for in-person dining when only about 11% of the entire population of the country has had two injections, where Chiang Mai Province (pop. 1.76 million) is still designated a "red zone" when, for example, yesterday there were a staggering 14 "cases" (read: positive tests) in the entire province, the Sunday walking street (held outside, remarkably) is still closed while all the shopping mall outdoor markets are open as usual, where you can buy beer at any 7-Eleven but not in a pub, and now this? When they look, say, at a place like Arizona State in the US, and see that they abandoned all covid restrictions (that means masks, too) in March of this year and see that yesterday they had about 3,000 "cases" and one death...do they think, "Oh, that's impossible. No way that could be true without total masking mandates and vaccine passports and "zones" and restrictions...that must be fake news! We know how to handle this, stand back and let us work!" This would be a hilarious sit-com were it not actually something we all have to suffer. ------------------------------------------------------------ -- When wearing a mask fogs up your glasses; what exactly do you think is happening?

yes it does No. Nothing can prevent a virus from entering your system; it's what happens after that, that matters. Ideally, when vaccination takes hold, after a virus enters your system (at which point you are infected), your body knows how to deal with it, and dispatches it so that there is not enough viral load to pass on, and you do not become ill. Unfortunately, for this current situation, this is not what's happening, at least in some cases. If vaccines prevented infection in the way I gather you assume they work, we would not see any "breakthrough" cases, yet we see them now. Look at the data out of Israel as a starting point in your research. As for antigen tests, a local, large chain pharmacy here has a sign (in Thai only) that says they will not sell antigen test kits. I asked why and the answer was: "The manager doesn't want sick people coming into the store," ... yet they sell ivermectin.... go figure.

The question is: how many of these people are sick and how many are really needing hospitalization (as we have understood the need for that for decades)?

If you hospitalize or put everyone who tests positive, regardless of being symptomatic or not, in field hospitals, of course you will fill up your available space. Open your thinking and imagine if we did this in the past -- test everyone for seasonal influenza infection and hospitalize all who tested positive? How would that look? How about we put people who run red lights in a mental rehabilitation facility for 14 days? That would certainly reduce fatalities over time, no?

"Hundreds of medical conditions are treated with a combination of drugs." I think there might be a difference, say, between taking Advil and aspirin for pain relief versus taking various injected vaccines, but what do I know? ...and yes, I said, this was one individual. Isn't there some controversy now in the USA about whether boosters should be advised? I do think this line is interesting, from MSN News: Biden's controversial Covid-19 vaccine booster plan: (bold added) "...some experts say booster shots are unlikely to alter the trajectory of the pandemic much — and that the doses would be much better spent getting people around the world immunized with first and second shots." I tend to agree with this, particularly when we are talking about inoculating young people ahead of elderly folks who are actually at some increased/meaningful risk.

I know a man who has had 4 shots of variously available vaccines here in Chiang Mai. I'm not sure if this is sound reasoning but then, perhaps he's taken the "common sense" message about adding masks for added protection. More is better. Is this a common practice in other countries (Western countries)? I have no idea. I'm not at all sure about mixing medicines/doses. I'm trying to think of other situations and medicines that we do this with. Do we do this with seasonal influenza? I don't know; I've never had a flu shot (and incidentally, have not had the flu for at least two decades). This is just my opinion and I have no links to offer pro or con. By the way, I'm not sure this fellow I mention is finished loading up on vaccine injections. Now with this buzz about boosters, I will have to ask him and report back.

"Why does your Thai 'friend' not want to be vaccinated? Any specific reasons?" I didn't ask. But I can. The fact is, for whatever reason, she doesn't want to have it, and I believe that forcing a worker to take a drug against his or her wishing must be illegal. Am I wrong? By the way, what's with the single quotes around the word friend? It's not me, if that's what you are alluding to. And yes, as shocking as it might seem, Trujillo actually has a friend (who is not imaginary).

"Please stop writing stupid things."

"Authorities asked business operators to ensure service staff are fully vaccinated and regularly tested with antigen kits, and to require customers to show proof of vaccination and negative tests." Am I wrong in thinking that it is illegal to force an employee to take a drug they do not want to take or else face pay deductions or dismissal?

A Thai friend of mine says that her boss has ordered all employees at his chain restaurant in a mall here in Chiang Mai to be vaccinated or else be docked 400 baht/week. I'm pretty sure this is illegal, but what say you? Who or what agency (including any links) should be contacted to report this behavior?

They are the exception. Everyone is wearing a mask, or two, now. Odd that, considering the positive test rate remains in the 20,000 range. Hard to figure that out, right?

Wouldn't it be nice to read an article that actually investigates this situation, and not just just some pap blow-by? There is nothing about just what the former bar workers are doing now to provide for themselves and their families. Clearly, very, very few have stayed in the red light areas, so what about the ones that went home? What about the renters of the bars? What about the owners of the bars? We know by looking at the slow train wreck that is happening here that nothing will be even remotely back to normal for years. Where are the comments from the government agencies tasked to deal with small businesses and "hostess bars"? What about comments from the anti-prostitution groups here? Are they over-the-moon about the decimation of the sex trade? They should be thrilled that the "scene" is all but gone, right? This article could have been written by any ex-pat with made-up quotes. It does not inform and tells you nothing. Just a few facts and whining. Pathetic.

Via Axios (Bold added): Preprint study found: * Overall, it found that the Moderna vaccine was 86% effective against infection over the study period, and Pfizer's was 76%. Moderna's vaccine was 92% effective against hospitalization and Pfizer's was 85%. * But the vaccines' effectiveness against infection dropped sharply in July, when the Delta variant's prevalence in Minnesota had risen to over 70%. * Moderna was 76% effective against infection, and Pfizer was only 42% effective. * The study found similar results in other states. For example, in Florida, the risk of infection in July for people fully vaccinated with Moderna was about 60% lower than for people fully vaccinated with Pfizer. Coronavirus-vaccines-pfizer-moderna-delta-biden Comparison of two highly-effective mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 during periods of Alpha and Delta variant prevalence Why is it Thailand seems to get the weakest vaccines available?

I would like to know if the appointment is transferable with the caveat that I keep my place in line for any future, different gene therapy that comes later. If yes, and my appointment is tomorrow, I'd be willing to allow someone who is actually at high risk to get my allotment, if we agree the details.