Trip Hop

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

Nearly 1% in a month looks like nearly 12% in a year?

The 0.9% will most probably be from its previously contracted state from the month before which really won’t be an increase overall if the economy has contracted more than 0.9% to start with? As other posters have stated, most probably due to the increase in tourists from the now defunct ‘test and go’?

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Is Thailand deliberately capping testing, with Omicron having lower virulence

I have thought this for a long time, ever since I done a quick analysis of the figures during the last wave? I don’t have the figures to hand but what I can remember is Thailand having a mortality rate several times higher than the rest of the world when compared to to the amount of declared positive cases?

It may have been the simple explanation that indeed whilst the virus wasn’t transmitting as much in Thailand when compared to the rest of the world, it was proving more deadly? However, when you factored in the official number of tests carried out, it suggested what you are saying to be true?

There again, this is ‘Amazing’ Thailand?

25 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

There's no equivalency. I'm not going to debate why they claim there's no prostitution. It's off topic and irrelevant. How do they save face by hiding the virus figures? It isn't the police who control those figures anyway.

The police and other officials just do or say as they are told by them above them in the food chain, it’s the way it’s always been. 
 

On the saving face note, did you not read  a little while back about a certain government minister saying that he had this and Omicron was no match for Thailand?

11 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Just another conspiracy theory. If the authorities knew the problem was worse than they have said then they would say that wouldn't they? 

Yep, in exactly the same way that on numerous occasions they have stated that they found no evidence of prostitution in Walking Street?

Let’s be honest, saving face is more important than anything here?

7 minutes ago, NanaSomchai said:

Call me cynical but with the Omicron variant being considered as "weaker" than the Delta one, what are the odds the authorities along with "the one that shall not be named on these forums" would actually be quite happy to see a fraction of their/his own population to either get infected, develop symptoms, develop natural immunity over time or yet even worse; Get infected, take out other bargirls, hookers, prostitutes, pimps and patrons along with them and die quietly away?

 

Wouldn't it serve THEIR agenda afterall? Which is clear as crystal water; get rid of Pattaya's seedy image one way or another.

 

I know it sounds awful to even imagine but last time I checked those in charge and those in power have very little esteem for other Thais who are far far far below (dare I say, at the very bottom?) than they are on the Thai social ladder.

 

Just my two cents.

 

I wouldn’t quite go as far as to say certain people might be happy for this to happen but it is well known that some have little regard for those they regard as below them?

Their problem is though that through their rose tinted specs, they don’t understand that if they take away certain existing elements of Thailand, it simply won’t be ‘Thailand’ any more and a lot of tourists simply won’t come due to there being far better places in the world to visit?

However, they may not be that worried about whether they have tourists or not, so this may not be relevant?

1 hour ago, Cherrytreeview said:

https://thepattayanews.com/2022/01/01/chonburi-governor-issues-new-order-for-restaurants-selling-alcohol/

 

Pattaya bar owners have been instructed to test their staff for the next 2 days.

Venues with over 100 people, will have to test their customers irrespective of vaccination status.

Any customers that are left will just move over to the normally less busy bars as appeared to be happening in Soi Buakhao last night with the testing presence around Tree Town?  This process will then just roll over whenever a bar is deemed to be busy enough to require testing of its customers?

No one with any sense are going to submit to mandatory testing, knowing what may be lying in wait for them?

6 hours ago, 2009 said:

I'd rather not take a test in Thailand personally, unless I am ill of course. 

 

I don’t think you’re alone in this?

I drove through Soi Buakhao last night and at the front of Tree Town there was a big testing operation set up with police presence. Now I don’t know whether it was for voluntary testing or a requirement for entry to Tree Town itself and there was no way that I was stopping to ask?

What I can tell you though is that all the bars in Tree Town itself which had been rather busy for the last 2 weeks previously were all rather empty and the ones on Soi Buakhao that hadn’t previously been very busy were ram packed with falangs. 

it was also a bit alarming when the receptionist of our regular hotel that we had booked for the night, told us to be careful with Covid as there was a problem in that area? This pretty much echoing what a friend had been told 2 days previously by a bar owner that he is friendly with?

I guess we won’t know the truth or severity about this for a while but from the hotel & bar owners opinion it appears that the problem is a lot worse than the authorities are letting on?

1 minute ago, Danderman123 said:

Clearly you don’t understand the difference between 90% protection and 0% protection. 
 

in your confused state, even if vaccination provided 99.9% protection, you would claim that it was no guarantee against infection.
 

however, even you agree that people should vaccinate to protect against Covid, right?

My original post stated that being vaccinated does not guarantee that you will not get infected and that you will not pass that infection on. By your own words, you have admitted this?

However, instead of just admitting that what I originally stated is correct, in order to try and justify your argument, you have sidetracked this by harping on about vaccines reducing the risk of infection to which my original post made no reference to whatsoever? You insinuate that I’m confused or uneducated, yet you’re the one that can’t even understand the context of my original post? ????

Now, do you want me to lend you a shovel for that hole you’re digging for yourself?

1 hour ago, Danderman123 said:

Because the answer is so obvious to everyone but you. I will type slowly so you understand.

 

Vaccination provides a high level of protection against infection. But not 100%. This is true for just about any vaccine.

 

Because even a vaccinated person has a non-zero chance of infection, they must undergo isolation if in contact with an infected person.

 

And they may still be infected, albeit with a much less severe illness. Although such breakthrough infections are rare.

 

 

So basically what you are saying is being vaccinated does not guarantee that you will not get infected nor that you will not pass that infection on? Exactly what my original post basically said if you read it correctly? So why pipe up?

10 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

Vaccination can prevent infection up to 90%, at least for Delta.

 

Note that 90% is not the same as 100%, which accounts for relatively rare breakthrough infections.

Is there a reason that you didn’t or cannot answer my questions? 

3 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

You can repeat the lie umpteen times, but it’s still a lie.

 

For the Delta variant which is prevalent in Thailand, vaccination can reduce the risk of infection by up to 90%.

 

Do you disagree?

 

 

Serious infection I would agree. Stop totally any level of infection and the possibility of infecting others I would disagree. Check out the WHO website or any other recognised health organisations and they state that at present there is no evidence to conclusively support that being vaccinated stops you being infected and passing that infection on? If this was the case, please explain double jabbed a asymptomatics passing on the virus? Also explain my mate catching Delta and passing it on to his Mrs, despite him being double jabbed with Astrozenica only 6 weeks previously? ????
 

Please also explain as to why in the western world, double and triple jabbed people are still being expected to isolate if they come into close contact with a confirmed infection? Surely this wouldn’t be required if things were as you state? ????

By the way, I’m not an anti-vaxxer, I’ve had 3 shots of Pfizer. I just don’t like people thinking that just because they’ve been vaxxed, they’re totally immune to it and can’t pass it on to others?

3 hours ago, Don Chance said:

Of course vaccines stop you from getting sick and transmitting the virus. Not all the time. That's why you need a booster.  The vaccine trains your immune system, when it comes in contract with the virus it just repels it.

Ask yourself a simple question? If you have a flu vaccine, does it stop you getting the flu? In simple terms no, you still get the infection but your immune system is stronger to fight the virus so it has less effect on you? The same for any vaccine. 
 

And if that hasn’t sunk in, explain this one Einstein? I have a very good mate, a school teacher who as such was one of the first after  healthcare workers to be double jabbed. 6 weeks after his 2nd jab, he caught Delta. As he said, it was like a dose of the flu that knocked him sideways for 2-3 days before being like any other bad cold. He still caught it, the infection was confirmed by PCR? The vaccine didn’t stop him giving it to his Mrs either, who by chance was self isolating at home in readiness for a hip operation. Therefore she couldn’t have got it from anywhere else?

If you search the WHO website or any other recognised health organisation, you will find that there is no substantial evidence whatsoever at this moment to support that the vaccine will totally stop you getting infected and transmitting that infection on? If you find some, please enlighten us?

3 hours ago, Farmerslife said:

For the pork farmer the price of feed has risen, the cost of transportation has risen, labour (if he can find any) costs have risen. If he can't afford to absorb those increases then he has little choice but to pass them on.

Perhaps the wholesalers, the traders would consider reducing their profit margins? No, thought not. 

Is 100 baht a kilo excessive? I am not in the meat business but it doesn't seem excessive to me. 

It wouldn’t unless you were an average Thai and it equates to a third of your daily wage? I can’t think of anywhere else in the world where this is the case?

1 hour ago, Dirk Z said:

I certainly have no idea, or do you mean exponential?

Exponential means that after 28 doubles each person in Thailand is infected and after 30 everyone on this planet. Since it seems to double every 1-2 days... do the math.

Not quite but along the lines of? Exponential in simple terms means anything that multiplies by a power more than 1. So if you were to use say a relatively small power of 1.01, that would mean that for every 100, after the 1st stage you would get 101 and after the second stage you would get 101 x 1.01 etc? Whilst a power of 1.01 would result in very little actual growth, it is still technically exponential?

The OP’s original post is somewhat contradictory though in that he mentions the square root of exponential? So if you were to take a base number of 2 and raise it exponentially by the power of 2, after the 1st stage, you would have 4. However, if you then took the square root of this, you would end up with 2, i.e. the number that you started off with?

12 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Unless of course you don't know  about the square root of  expediential

And judging from that piece of nonsense, neither do you? ????

9 hours ago, candide said:

I am not medical doctor s o I may be wrong, but my layman assumption is that it may take time to produce enough antigens to be detected, as it is an antigen test.

Something along the lines of this but according to him it’s not just the antigens. It’s something to do with Omicron being that in the initial day or so after being infected, even a PCR would fail to detect? The full thread is here and an interesting guy to follow who appears to know his stuff?

45 minutes ago, candide said:

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.

I was reading an interesting post on Twitter yesterday by Dr Michael Mina in the states, who appears to have a balanced view and has advocated using LFTs for screening for a long time. 
 

He was discussing that people were complaining that LFTs were not picking up Onicron in the first day or so, as you have described yourself? However, he explained further that this wasn’t the LFTs fault, it was something to do with the genetics of the particular mutation and that exactly the same problems would be experienced with PCR if tested at the same time?

53 minutes ago, ibtg68 said:

I’m not sure which part of Samui your friend is referring to, but it’s not dead. I’ve been here a year now and started noticing an increase in tourism beginning in October. Here in Lamai where I live, restaurants, bars - some with live music - massage shops and gyms are open. Some bars are open until 2:00 am and these places aren’t even trying to pretend they’re restaurants. Even the police make the random appearance on foot patrol, smile, take a few selfies and move on the next soi. Not every place is open, but it’s far from dead. 

It’s dead to what it’s normally been like for the last 10 years over Xmas/New Year pre Covid and one of the reasons that I’m not there now myself? I’m good friends with about 6-7 Thai & farang bar owners in Lamai and for over a year they’ve all telling me it’s dead as a dodo. The Outback is closed and there were 2 people in the Bondi Bar last night. There’s a couple of bars open in Had Lamai 1, the Boxing Ring and Dogsh!t Alley but hardly any customers? <deleted>, even McDonalds have closed their doors? Not that McD’s is a big loss but it is a good measure of exactly how dead the place is compared to what it used to be?

1 hour ago, BusyB said:

I was referring to SARS CoV 2, although I also wouldn't want a pilot with a cold to be flying my plane either ... think about it ...

Or driving a train, or a 40 tonne truck, or any other number of infrastructure tasks ... as a supervisor I told people to stay at home with colds - before they infect others at work as well.

And I have never worked with a cold or flu. Much less Covid-19.

But maybe it doesn't worry you. 

That is fine if the people with colds are being paid to sit at home, which for general workers in the infrastructure industry is very rare? However in places like the UK, if that approach was taken, nothing would be built on time, costs would spiral and everyone would be wondering why their taxes and everything else was going up? I’ve got 30 years under my belt in UK construction and I think I could count on my fingers as to how many days in that I’ve actually had ‘off sick’?  For a heavy head cold or the flu, there’s nothing like dosing yourself with some flu remedy & vitamin C, wrapping up warm and getting out in the good old British winter weather to blow it out of you?

5 hours ago, webfact said:

At the moment there are about 20-30 cases of Omicron detected in Phuket daily. 

 

So far the total is 92.

So they’ve only been counting for about 4 days then? ????

55 minutes ago, PEE TEE said:

So all the latest data (so called) is Phuket how come Samui never gets a mention are they  keeping it quite? as it stands Samui has many tourists arriving I take it the little island is completely free from Covid whatever the variant. i have to say the vaccine program is top notch.   

Spoke to a mate earlier who arrived on Samui yesterday and he said it’s dead?