candide

Not to mention that people who test positive with ATK have no obligation to declare it to anyone. I will never make a PCR test and get trapped and ransomed by a Thai hospital. I will self-isolate, order grab food and watch videos. An interesting observation is that first two days the ATKs gave negative results. Today I had no symptoms any more and made an additional self test by precaution, and it was positive. So It's necessary to make tests during 3 days to be sure.

The good thing is that my TG is also positive, so we can self-isolate together! ????

I have a bad feeling about Pattaya. ATKs out of stock in some pharmacies, people queuing to get PCR tested, and I'm probably infected (but very very mild symptoms thanks to 3 Pfizer jabs). Take care friends!

I took two ATKs, as they are not suposed to be fully reliable. ????

so I'm not the only one in this case! ????

Ok, somehow I can understand that. But what about the seemingly numerous expats who are joining chorus to blame tourists on this forum?

I don't like the soi Bua Khao creeps either, but do you think that Thai people are wearing masks when they gather at garden168, pork bbq etc...? They're just as likely as tourists to transmit covid. I am fed up with the continuous (fully vaccinated) tourist bashing here. In France or UK, people are not continuously winning about foreigners who brought omicron to their country We are exactly in similar situation as in April. Whomever you can blame for it, Omicron is already there in Isaan. 700 +cases according to the BaPo. And as in April, it will be the Thai people going on holiday who will diffuse it in the country.

Some tourists don't wear masks but there are also many tourists who actually wear masks. On top of it, It's not really useful to wear a mask outside unless It's crowded. The real risk in inside bars, restaurants, etc... and tourists and Thai alike don't wear masks there. That's where most contamination occurs. And It's not only tourists who go out. There are plenty of places where Thai people gather, and I don't often see a table with less than four or five people together. Two days ago I wanted to bring Thai lady to a popular Issan place, you know huge place with a band and plenty of tables, and there were nurses doing tests near the entrance and it wasn't for no reason. Lady was not happy (????) but I did not want to get in. I am surprised so many posters are buying the government propaganda and continuously play the blame game against tourists.

It's obvious that Omicron is less lethal than other variants. However, the curves you show should not be innacurately interpreted. Deaths never happen the day people are infected. There is usually a delay of one or two weeks before people actually die. So you cannot compare the number of infected people at one point of time with the number of deaths at the same. The effect on deaths of the peak shown on the first figure cannot be assessed before at least 10 days.

Spot on! There has never been a significant number of hospitalised people among those who entered under Test&Go or sandbox schemes. Another B.S. article, as usual!

So obviously you did not personally check it.

In order to make such a statement, did you check yourself? BKK Brian doesn't seem to think so, and he's usually quite reliable for providing facts.

It's very easy to check. Compare the number of official covid deaths with the number of excess deaths all causes. In France it fits well. I did not check for India but for Thailand it"about three times the number of official covid deaths. Follow the link below. You need to change the country to Thailand to get the numbers for Thailand in number of raw deaths all causes. Then compare with the official number of covid deaths in Thailand. https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid

Right. And you can be sure the hospital will not let them go before they have sucked any possible dollars from them, including by delaying tests or refusing to make counter-tests. The outcome of this policy is that anyone with a brain will do anything in order to not get tested. I regularly have a look at facebook groups and the dominant advice given is to avoid being tested. I am currently here as tourist as my usual professional staying has been made impossible by restrictions. One thing is sure. If I get some symptoms I will just auto-test. If I am positive I will not tell anyone and I will self quarantine in the condo I rent.

One question. Are Thai people or expat residents subject to the same rule or are they allowed to self-quarantine at home?

Only if you assume that all covid deaths are counted. https://m.timesofindia.com/india/official-counts-of-covid-19-deaths-are-underestimated-in-south-asia-world-bank-report/articleshow/86842303.cms

The time periods are not comparable. The CDC data you show are weekly rates. What you showed before about influenza were the rates for the whole 2019-2020 season. To be honest the 248 Covid deaths rate likely includes two seasons, so to make it comparable it would be logical to multiply the influenza rate by two. So around 12 for influenza compared to 248 for Covid-19.

Fact-oriented people with a critical mind would compare the number of official Covid-19 deaths with the number of total excess deaths in order to find out if it makes sense (it does), Instead of making the same old debunked B.S. claim. https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938 https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid

I also don't understand why they think the Omicron wave will wait until March to strike, taking into account that they already found 200 cases in Kalasin.

Ahem... The death rate for Covid-19 in the USA is 248.76 per 100,000, not 6 death per 100,000. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

I never thought about it, so I did a quick search and it seems you are right. https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/07/02/the-science-of-why-firing-your-gun-up-into-the-air-can-be-lethal/?sh=684b87cff656

The recoveries correspond approximately to the number of cases 2 weeks before. Check on the chart provided by Bkk Brian in this thread, you wil see it fits more or less.

Oops! Thanks for correcting it, it was December 16.

I don't know how it is in Thailand, but in other countries they are able to identify the Delta variant. So in most countries, the number of Omicron cases is assessed by the number of non-Delta cases.

As of January 16, there were only 200/300 cumulated cases of Omicron detected in France, which has broadly the same population as Thailand. Now, estimates are 20,000 to 40,000 per day. So it took only 9 days from 200/300 to 20,000/40,000