BangkokReady

I'm not looking to criticise or make comparisons. I'm simply curious. It seems that many Thais, young and old, are glued to their smart phones for much of the day. To the foreigners that have been here long enough to remember: what was Thailand like before smartphones? What did people working in shops, waiting at bus stops, on a break from their job, etc., do before the smart phone? What did it look like walking down the street, waiting for the BTS, or sitting in a café in Thailand before the smartphone? Were people reading? Talking? Staring at the palm of their hand wishing that something entertaining was visible there?

"Keeping up with the Joneses" simply means having a similar lifestyle to your neighbours when it comes to consumer goods.

"Why didn't another Thai do this? All the other Thais are so lazy... ????" Always so close.

Or where the communist backed half chose to invade the Western backed half of their divided country, as was the case in Korea and Vietnam.

If your home country had free medical care, but while in Thailand you purchased private medical insurance, would you wish you hadn't bought it if you finished your time in Thailand having never used it? You wouldn't, because you might have needed it, so it was a sensible thing to do at the time. No reason to regret doing something to keep you safe, even if you didn't use it. And that's before we consider the fact that people being vaccinated (not only the individual) may have contributed to someone never having contracted the virus.

Doesn't that apply to all the laws in Thailand?

It's more that the virus is weaker and the resistance to it is higher. When things closed it was a very strong virus and there was low resistance to it. As the pendulum has swung, so the measures have reduced.

People think there is an independent agency in Thailand?

I don't think so. Another article said that the rule or the court only came into play in 2017, so they would start counting from then.

The responses of some are quite interesting. I suspect those getting worked up about it are people who were on the side of "masks don't do anything, this is all a conspiracy theory" since the beginning. I suspect they are confusing the gradual, slow and considered relaxing of anti-covid measures, after the situation has improved dramatically, with an admission that we never needed any of them in the first place and the doubters were right all along.

1, It might be down to the school directors, so there still might be masks in schools. 2, It might be brought back if they do go maskless and the numbers shoot up. I'm optimistic and hoping for the best, but people should be realistic. Once we see that school are choosing to go maskless and it isn't having a significantly adverse effect on covid, then we can breathe a sigh of relief.

Welcome to Thailand.

I thought it might be the exact opposite. "Sorry guys, but it's just too risky have foreigners unmasked." ???? (Yes. The above is hyperbole.)

Oh, it just occurred to me that you are wrong here also. Women and children first had nothing to do with them being "the future". It was because they were seen as being weak, vulnerable and in need of protection, while the men where seen as being disposable. Women and children included elderly women and excluded young men who had many, many years ahead of them.

Hmmm, not sure that's quite the same as reducing the chance that someone will die. Basically, since I was arguing with someone who literally says that it's better for the elderly or vulnerable to die than for kids to miss a year of school, it seems like a logical summation. (What I said, not what you made up.)

So just let the virus rage and kill a load of people because you can't cope with a year of study online? That's pretty wild. "It doesn't matter if people are dying, the kids need to go to school! They're the future, so let the adults die!" As I said, you're entitled to your opinion, but this one I can't see many people agreeing with. It's very noble of you if you are personally willing to die, or have members of your family die, needlessly to allow kids to not miss a year of school, I'm not sure how many others would lay down their lives or those of their family for the same reason.

Well, you are free to present some evidence that says clearly that masks are not effective at reducing spread of covid-19. And you're entitled to your opinion. The research doesn't seem to support you, but your opinion is your opinion. It was never about children getting sick, but protecting vulnerable members of the family. Absolutely, and hopefully things will return to normal as soon as possible. You can attempt to trivialise, but we know this was a case of someone you love and care about dying, probably long before their time. You're entitled to your opinion, but most people were OK with kids having a year of studying online if it meant their mother, father, husband, wife, etc., didn't die.

That's why they go for holidays, sure, but most middle class foreigners who work would probably opt to live in their home countries to do so. No doubt this helps with the fun and relaxation, but there are probably many middle class Thais who would work in a Western country if they could. It's swings and roundabouts really, as, while "don't worry about anything and just have fun" is good for a holiday, it can actually be infuriating for people that want to get work done. I think you might be a tad confused between "holiday Thailand" and "working Thailand". In terms of the comment I was replying to originally, I don't disagree with the notion that Thailand is more "fun" than many Western countries, I just don't think that that alone would explain why a middle class Thai might be happier than a middle class Westerner.

Isn't this because middle class Thais do not really have the same lifestyle as middle class foreigners? Most middle class people in Western countries essentially prop up the other two classes through their consumption and their taxes, I'm not sure that the same can be said for Thai middle class. Middle class Thais are surely a lot wealthier, relatively speaking, than foreigners, when compared to their fellow Thais.

Both these studies focus on the effectiveness of mask wearing recommendations, rather than the effectiveness of the masks themselves. They also both claim that masks can reduce the spread of covid-19. The Bangladesh study in particular not only sets out with the view that masks are a good thing and it is desirable that they are worn, posing the question "How can we get people to wear masks more?", but it also concludes with: I think you might want to re-read the articles you have linked with a slightly more open mind. It would probably help if you did research with the perspective of "How effective are masks at reducing the spread of covid-19?", rather than "Can I find any research that supports my opinion that masks are not effective?". According to the articles you linked, yes. Certainly in terms of reduction of spread, but, as I said, we need to think about whether that reduction is worth it. Now that we have Omicron and vaccines, I think it's probably worth giving "going maskless in schools" a try. If numbers don't go up too much as a result, then it can stay that way.

The commenter was suggesting that his not wearing a mask went unnoticed (implying nobody cared). I was suggesting that it perhaps did not go unnoticed, but he failed to notice other people noticing (people cared).

I think some have admitted that perhaps the virus was not as deadly as first thought, but I haven't heard anyone say that face masks didn't work, and we have, of course, seen numbers go up since anti-covid measures were reduced. If Delta was still around, even that might not be possible. Keeping children at home from school reduced transmission, as do face masks and social distancing. We can obviously discuss whether the reduction in cases was/is worth the impact on people's lives, but I don't think you can refute the facts of their effectiveness.

How could they not? Of course. But ten neighbourhood kids hanging out together in the street and getting covid is not comparable to hundreds or thousands of kids getting covid at school. Just imagine these ten kids each go to a different school. They each pass it onto several of their classmates and teachers, they then pass it on to their friends and other teachers, then they take it home to their parents and grandparents. That's a lot more than simply those close to the original kids. Again, not sure how people cannot comprehend that.

Children packed together in classrooms and then going home to be around their elderly relatives were obviously very strong vectors for transmission. Catch covid at school, take it home and kill their parents or grandparents. I'm not sure how you can't see that. The only reason we can relax now is Omicron and vaccines. Prior to that, school children, understandably, had to be prevented from catching and passing a dangerous virus onto their unvaccinated relatives.

We'll have to wait and see. Weeks after masks outside became optional, most Thais still wear masks outside and away from any other people.