JCP108

Um, that's quarantine in a hotel.

Hotels charge you for another night if you are not out by a certain time. Say you get to the hotel and check in at 3:00 a.m., their crack swabbing team doesn't get to work until 10:00 a.m., your test result comes back 10 hours later. What if the swabbing staff don't work 24/7 but maybe 10-6? Your result would come back after they are gone for the day. So, you would end up paying for two nights.

There was a dude about 3 years ago who lived in Thailand and had a Youtube channel posting videos many of which were about a local orphanage up in Isaan where he lived. He monetized the channel and donated the proceeds to the orphanage. He got threatened with deportation if he didn't demonetize his channel because making videos and posting them on Youtube and receiving money apparently is illegal work. I forget his name. They also scolded him apparently for volunteering at fundraisers for the orphanage because apparently donating a bunch of chicken and helping set up chairs at such an event is illegal work.

I've seen talk of swabbing stations at the airport (would be a nightmare) or at the hotels or at some place generalized on your way to the hotel. Right. If you get to the hotel early in the morning, when will they actually swab you? Seems to me that many people will end up having to book two days at the hotel rather than one even if the actual test to result time is around 12 hours.

I thought I had recently seen articles about their setting up swabbing stations at the airport.

Imagine that getting swabbed at the airport is a process that takes, on average, about 3 minutes per person. A plane load of 400 people would take a total of 1,200 minutes of processing time (3 x 400). That's 20 hours of processing time added to the other stuff you have to navigate to get out of the airport. If they have 10 processing stations running simultaneously, that would cut the time to process that plane load to 2 hours. So, for an individual traveler, that could mean standing in a line for an extra 2 hours just for that one part (then, there is baggage claim and immigration and such). I would call that a frustration. As for the airport: what happens if more planes land in that 2-hour period? Those passengers would have to wait before even entering the line to get swabbed.

Absolutely right. Won't kill any of us. It will dissuade many travelers and work against their goal of saving the high season. Also that PCR test on arrival is going to frustrate the process of going through the airport even if only a few planes land per day. It's also not honest to call it "quarantine-free" or say we are "exempt from quarantine" while it includes a one- to two-day quarantine.

I'm seeing articles recently touting Thailand as a nice destination for a "work-ation" and some are quoting Thai officials. I'm confused. Historically, Thailand has banned working without a work permit and even doing things that resemble work without one (like volunteering). Are there plans to change these rules to allow people with no work permits to legally work while visiting Thailand?

Um, they didn't eliminate quarantine...they just said that they did. It's still there. Just shorter.

I agree. For me, this is a big improvement. (I doubt that for regular tourists, the hoops have been reduced enough to really save the high season, though.) I wish they would stop calling it "quarantine-free" as there is, in fact, a quarantine required.

If no symptoms, we do the self test on day 6 or 7 and show it to staff? If I come to BKK, I will do the one- to two-day quarantine, then go to my apartment. So, on day 6 or 7 I would show the result to my wife?

Still, the wait will likely cause many to have to book two nights in the hotel. For example, the flight I was looking at would arrive in BKK a little after midnight. By the time I get through airport b.s. and check into the hotel, it might be around 3:00 a.m. If the test results were to get to me twelve hours later, I would have to book a second day at the hotel as most have the cut-off around noon.

...and an antigent test kit? Where does that figure in?

So, it's "quarantine-free" and we are "exempt from quarantine" but we have to quarantine for one to two nights on arrival. Am I understanding that correctly?

I want more. Doubt it will be a flood.

I have an apartment in Bangkok. I want to go straight there. I don't want to pay for their unnecessary hotel.

I'm confused because one- to two-day quarantine does not sound like "quarantine-free". Somebody please explain.

I wish they would stop referring to it as "quarantine-free" when they seem to plan to demand a one- to two-day quarantine. Maybe they could be honest and start calling it "shorter quarantine?"

Demanding that we stay in a hotel for x amount of time on arrival is a quarantine. Can they please stop announcing this as "no quaranine" or "without quaranine" unless they actually do away with the quarantine?

Might get even another new name in December.

So, for vaccinated travelers from the select countries, we do still have a quarantine. Just one to two days instead of seven, ten, or fourteen. Let's stop calling it "no quarantine" or "without quarantine" please.

I hope they do opt to do a rapid test (or no test at all) at the airport on arrival. Then I could go straight to my apartment in Bangkok. I think that would make for more travelers to Thailand, too. The false positive rate for the rapid tests is pretty much non-existent compared to the average 0.6% for the RT-PCR tests. Thus, the risk of getting a false positive and ending up with a mandatory 14-day quarantine would be eliminated.

Um, yeah.

Okay. Nice that they were able to process people in 1-2 minutes per person. If that were the rate at Bangkok, then a plane of 400 would take 800 minutes, or 9 hours and 20 minutes. If they had 10 stations for such, it would still take an extra hour and 20 minutes just for that one plane. What if more planes land during that hour and a half? Looks to me like swabbing people at the airport would be a <deleted> show.

But, still, if they do swab people at the airport (there has been talk of this) and it takes 10 minutes per person, a plane load of 400 people would take 4,000 total minutes to process with one station. If they had 10 stations running non-stop, that would take 400 minutes to process that one plane, or almost 7 hours to process. And, what if more planes land during that 7 hours?