mstevens

Looks like Brits may be looking at another summer at home in Blighty.

5 hours ago, Senechal said:

Or better yet, some inside scoop from a somewhat reliable source?

The decision on when to reopen hasn't been made as the situation is fluid.

The impression I get is that bars won't all reopen for at least another couple of months. There seems to be a realisation that bars and the entertainment industry are a fertile breeding ground for the virus and as such I imagine there will be a reluctance to reopen bars quickly.

7 hours ago, pookondee said:

 

 

Well, hopefully, it might FINALLY sink in to people of all countries, that a huge number (is it still 99.5%?) of people recover from this virus with no major issues.

 

The idiocy right now is to many people seem to be carrying on as if this is a death sentance for one all infected.

Just to be clear, worldwide approx. 2% of people who contract Covid die from it. Or in other words, 1 in 50 who contract Covid don't survive. That is the worldwide average. Obviously in some countries the survival rates are much higher.

Some island nations (Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand) have eliminated the community spread of Covid and seem to be able to keep on top of it, save the off short and sharp localised lockdown.

For a country like Thailand to actually eliminate Covid-19 altogetger seems impossible. With people always crossing the border in to Thailand from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia, the virus could come back unchecked at any time.

Covid-19 will never be totally eliminated. The world will live learn to with it and so long as most people are vaccinated, it shouldn't be a great concern.

When most of the world is vaccinated - hopefully by late next year - then life will return to normality, or at least to a new norm.

About a billion doses of vaccine have been administered worldwide so far. With 7.7 billion people on the earth and 70%+ of adults needing to be vaccinated to create herd immunity, that's something like 10 billion vaccines that need to be administered. Still a long time to go. So it looks like another 18 months until borders open up.

2023 should be a decent year in Thailand and for much of the world....I just hope things don't get too bad between now and then.

They had better get those new ICU beds fast with 2,839 new cases just reported today.

At a guess, December 2021 will probably still require quarantine on entering Thailand and, depending on where you come from and will return to, possibly quarantine when returning home too.

It's hard to see Thailand opening up for visitors without the need for quarantine until the majority of Thais are vaccinated - and that does not look likely to happen this year.

Personally, I figure the second half of 2022 is when I can return to Thailand without any need for quarantine.

7 hours ago, gomangosteen said:

"ridiculously risk-averse" and "cities go in to lockdown when there is more than one case of community spread"

 

That has occurred twice, August 2020 and February 2021. With a total fatality rate of 26 I would rate the government's actions as being successful.

And just watch, it will happen again too!

1,000 per day coming soon?

9 minutes ago, Excel said:

When you consider who the real owners of these places are and also the ancillary income they provide to the other organised groups of the establishment, do you really think they would be closed down again ? bit like turkeys voting for Xmas

Nana Plaza closed for two weeks since yesterday. 

6 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

Honestly I have never known anything like it ! My unremarkable house has doubled in price in less then 10 years ! I know interest rates are low and there is high foreign investment but who the hell can afford these mortgages ? We are either going to be really house poor or the whole housing market is going to collapse . It worries me . 

It's the same here in New Zealand where prices have moved so much that I have thought about selling. Houses are going up by around $12,000 / month and have been for some time. The problem is if you sell then you have to buy in the same market i.e. all other houses have gone up in price. Sure makes me think about selling up and moving to Thailand while prices are at these crazy levels and selling like hot cakes - no sooner do you put it on the market than you have multiple offers coming in.

Same thing here in New Zealand (and Australia) where property prices are soaring.

As for Thailand, the property market does not function as property markets do in the West. Properties in prime and highly desirable locations do go up in price, there's always demand for them. In the suburbs, especially unremarkable suburbs / areas, perhaps not so much. I imagine that the lack of regulations which means you can largely buy a piece of land and build on it is something of a handbrake on prices rising fast.

For sure, loss of employment could make keeping up with payments for their property tough for some Thais....maybe that might cause some properties to be offloaded at less than what was paid for them. But then I do seem to recall that repossessing property in Thailand can take years....so who knows?

Born in the early 1970s and have had a good life so far....but I reckon my parents’ life was even better. Life was more relaxed and there was less worry. While there was less to do, much of. what they did do was probably better than today such as destinations with no crowds etc.

And for those generations that follow mine, hmmm, I think they might look back at what we had with envy. I just am not that optimistic that the future will be more as much fun or as enjoyable as the past. If there is one thing I have learned it is to enjoy life and have fun while you can. The future is not certain and fun things today might not exist in future....or might be frowned upon!

1 hour ago, expat_4_life said:

I don't think any foreign resident should be forced to vaccinate, unless of course it's a part of a

vaccination program that requires the same of Thais. Residents are residents regardless of

nationality and should all be subject to the same rules.

I do agree with you but at the same time I imagine that it will be required for those extending work / retirement / marriage visas to show they have been vaccinated. And you just know that while resident Westerners might get vaccinated for free, if there is a group of Thais and a group of Westerners and some Chinese vaccines and some American vaccines....you just know that the Westerners are going to get the Sinovac jab!

My house would have to be the best thing I bought. It is not a particularly great house and I was in two minds on whether to buy it or not - but it has turned out to be far and away the best thing I ever bought. It has soared in value and will essentially allow me to retire in Thailand 10 years earlier than I had expected.

As for a smaller item, my MacBook Pro. Still going strong after 7 years and has given me zero problems (which I cannot say for every Windows computer I owned the previous 20+ years).