I am in Bangkok near Victory Monument. Every second bike is a Grab and the riders are pretty much the only people in the Century Mall picking up orders.

I prefer Food Panda myself and they've been ok recently, though not the best online system. I miss Uber Foods.

7 hours ago, AlexRich said:

A better way would be to quarantine people deemed vulnerable and organising a support group to make sure they get food, medicines and provisions, together with a period when they can get out and take some exercise, like a curfew period that “the rest” observe.

 

Business and retail can go on as usual and the intensive care units will be able to deal with the younger people unlucky enough to have a bad experience. After a few months we should have established herd immunity and some kind of therapeutic treatments ... and a little later we get the vaccine. 
 

it would take a bit of organising but it’s doable.

Political will is what it'll take. Let's see who has the guts.

Is Our Fight Against Coronavirus Worse Than the Disease?

The headline from the NYT piece of 20/3 I linked in the OP is above. Trump's tweet from late 22/3 is below.

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF ...

Ya think maybe he's been talking to Dr. Katz? Btw, here's an interesting video from BBC Israel if you haven't seen it yet:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-51981861/israel-s-coronavirus-patient-74-talks-about-her-experience

She gets her throat swabbed through a hole in wall by a medic in a hazmat suit and then off she goes with her fellow C-19 patients to sit around a table and play cards, for crying out aloud!  Seriously, can we get some rational perspective on this thing?

I don't particularly like Trump but if he has the guts to say, "All you old and infirm stay isolated. The rest get back to the way you were. Sure some of you'll get sick but this ain't ebola and the best darned medical system in the world has your back. Oh, and by the way, in case you get it C-19 treatment is on the house and we'll make sure you get paid every sick day." then he has my vote on 11/3.

The candidates will sit demurely in a row as Joe goes down the line stopping to hold each one by the shoulders, sniff their hair, give them a hug and whisper something in the ear that makes blush.

And that's how the woman who will become in a few years our first female President will be chosen.

Just kidding. I wish though Joe hadn't committed himself to a woman. There are competent men out there. No need to refuse to give them even a look. Plus there's plenty of male chauvinism still in the midwest blue collar class he needs to win. Heck, Hillary lost white women to Trump. I hope they do some hard calculating before making the call.

You will have to pry my roll of toilet paper from my cold dead hand.

Related question if I may:

I traveled out of the country and returned Feb 3, got my extension based on retirement at CW on Feb. 7. So when is my 90-day report due? Feb. 3 + 90 or Feb. 7 + 90? Thanks.

This article makes the point I was thinking given that most (80%, 90%?) who get C-19 suffer no to mild symptoms: identify and protect the vulnerable (old/ill/...), but let others live and work normally, letting their immune systems deal with it. Some will catch it, maybe work on, maybe call in sick for a few days and recover. In the process vital herd immunity develops as well.

This way healthcare can be concentrated on those at risk without getting overwhelmed with millions clamoring for drugs and care who don't need it. And the whole country doesn't have to come to a grinding stop. Politically infeasible maybe ("How dare you propose allowing people to get sick?") but makes sense.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/opinion/coronavirus-pandemic-social-distancing.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

3 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

The medical requires that person has "checked negative to covid-19"

No, it does not. The CAAT notice above says "no evidence of ...", which as UJ says would mean a doctor certifying the person to be free of symptoms.

1 hour ago, dogfish180 said:

<deleted>! The guy just posts utter BS for his own self gratification!

A loser jealously tearing down a fellow farang with a high profile for their own self gratification.

I have everything in a total market US stock index fund so from cigar-chomping 1.5 millionaire now to my nose barely above 1 mil and rediscovering the joys of the 7/11 fridge.

25% gone in the blink of an eye. But I've seen this before, 2001, 2008. It'll come back. I'm sure it will. Yes. It will. Please. Yes.  Yes, it will. It must.  

I need to rest. Be back.

31 minutes ago, gk10002000 said:

I mailed in my return on Feb 21.  Today March 17 my refund was direct deposited in my Etrade checking account.

I mailed in my paper return about the same day. I owed taxes which I paid via Direct Pay. The reason for filing early was that last year they sent me a notice that part of my income was not earned, therefore could not be excluded via Form 2555 and billed me a few hundred more. They were wrong but it took a fair amount of back and forth to straighten out.

So, I decided to go early this year giving me plenty of time in case they wanted to pick a fight again. It's good to hear that they processed your paper return so quickly. I am going to assume then that if I don't hear from them by April that my return was checked and passed.      

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

Thats such a childish statement. Why dont you tell that to the families of the dead soldiers he honours at Dover AirForce base.

He goes for the photo op. Which works given by the fact that a fellow in Thailand is bleating about it on an internet forum.

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

He does have a monstrous ego, but he doesnt use I as much as Barack. Plus he never promised to heal the planet.

I wouldn't compare the two. 44 had class.

But to return to the topic at hand I will grant that the liberal press is disgracefully cynical using C-19 as a cudgel to beat Trump with. They are fanning the flames of C-19 hysteria. But it could backfire terribly if the epidemic subsides and the economy recovers well before before 11/3.

3BB sent an sms about potential outages yesterday, something to do with improvements. Sit back and wait for blazing speed.

Excerpt from a mail from the blessed Grace at Thai Visa Center:

We are still waiting on a meeting to conclude on March 17th, which will impact Visa-on-arrival/Visa-free entry for the following countries: Bulgaria, Bhutan, China (includes Taiwan), Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Malta, Mexico, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Republic of Vanuatu, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

The above countries also need a Health Certificate issued within 48 hours of flight departure certifying that they are free of COVID-19.

Question: what exactly is acceptable as Health Certificate? That the person seems healthy signed by a doctor on their letterhead? I don't see how someone can be certified to be free of C-19 without a special test. I am expecting a friend from India end of the month and don't want him to face a problem on arrival.

If I remember correctly they had something like this in place for Chinese visitors for a while but never knew what the certificate is supposed to be.

Got this from Amazon. Easy to DIY. No cutting, just apply the band and wait a couple of days.

I've found my Songkran outfit.

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Is this routine good or OTT or in fact not logical (missing some aspect of how virus transfer could happen)? What do you think?

I am no medical person. But from what I read, as illnesses go, C-19 is mild. In fact, sometimes so mild that a person has it without feeling anything. In any case, an otherwise healthy person should have no trouble recovering from C-19.

Which makes me think that reasonable precautions like keeping hands and face clean makes sense. But not encumbering one's way of life to the point one is reacting to C-19 all the time.

Of course, if one has existing health issues then be super careful.

6 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Thanks and yes I have David Shields PassportCard WhatsApp contact number in my mobile for emergency contact, but the David Shield Visa Card still applies as far as I know.

 

I did also notice that as I turn 60 come August the policy will jump about $1,200 USD ouch. 

I got 2 replacement cards from AA.

1. PassportCard Member card with my name, DOB, Policy no. which I carry in my wallet.

2. PassportCard Mastercard for direct payment which I keep at home.

Neither of the two says David Shield anywhere. So please check if you have the right payment card.

11 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Have you had a claim denied by them out of curiosity ?

Not at all. I've been with them just a year and not made a claim so was asking. They changed me to PassportCard btw last month. Surely you too?