BoojamTheKind

If the amnesty is not extended the real victims will be Thai people. The whole economy is already in a terrible slump. Most of the hotels in Bangkok are closed. All the businesses which cater to foreigners are in a bad way.

A decision to expel everyone on visa amnesty would be the last twist of the knife for many businesses. We should feel pity for the Thai people impacted by such an irresponsible and heartless decision, and not be so concerned about ourselves, because we have funds to survive elsewhere. Thai people will be left with nothing.

20 minutes ago, 2long said:

On paper / Officially it's very hard to define the difference between a bar, a pub, a beer bar, an open bar etc etc. Many businesses in Thailand are registered as something different from what they really are. Therefore, it's safer for the government to have a blanket ban. And in my opinion I tend to agree. Also, as some previous posters claim that with so few customers, what's wrong with opening? Well, if a bar has to pay staff etc to open for a few expats, then that might be worse for them than staying closed.

And with so many young Thais off of school and work right now, should they have the temptation of going out drinking? Add to this the irresponsible ones who might waste the household's money on booze and what comes with it, then things will get worse.

Don't get me wrong, I like a drink, and I can't wait until things open up. But I do see their sense in this.

As for booze in restaurants, well I am also looking forward to those days, but if it's allowed, a gang of Somchais will order a few plates of food and then drink for hours.

It's clear that most people on TVF are Farang expats who think that Thailand should revolve around their needs. With no tourists coming in, why would the government want to allow what such a small percentage of people here really want? Yes, the industry needs to open up for the good of the businesses and livelihoods involved, but it's too risky given how people behave when out drinking socially.

This is a sad misunderstanding of the real issues, and an unfair smear on farang. Your perspective seems to be heavily influenced by CNN and other fake news outlets who have been exaggerating the threat of the virus while mostly ignoring the devastating economic effect of the lockdowns (which is itself another public health crisis).

Many people are genuinely concerned about poverty. Opening bars is one step towards alleviating this desperate situation. Entertainment in general needs to be returned to normal operation as it contitutes a huge sector of the economy in Thailand.

In my opinion, you are the one being selfish here, prioritising your risk-averse obsession with a virus with an 0.4% fatality rate over economic collapse.

12 minutes ago, oxforddiver said:

It seems to me that the most dangerous and awful aspect of our situation is the unemployment it has created and the poverty which is getting worse every day.

What sector of the population is worst hit by this? the working classes, the service workers, those not in Government jobs. And most of them work in the hospitality sector. Many hundreds of thousands maybe millions would be my guess. Therefore the priority of those that make the decisions should be to get this group back to work asap. That means bars and alcohol at least allowing the entertainment sector to open and get back staff into jobs, those that want to. Many see no point in opening because there are not enough customers to go around, and the locals do not have the money. But getting the low income sector back into work needs to be the number one priority now in Thailand. The danger is minimal from covid compared to the extreme poverty that is now hurting so many.

What you say here is absolutely correct. It is tragic that the public discourse remains focussed on exaggerated concerns about a virus which according to the CDC has a maximum case fatality rate of 0.4%. This is not a conspiracy theory. It is published data from top government sources in the US. 

The media and politicians continue to ignore the revised data regarding the true danger represented by the novel coronavirus. They prefer to continue to push extreme risk-averse policies and generally hype fear and panic. What we are seeing is a form of mass psychosis, a new type of fascism. It is political and has zero to do with science.

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

This is a step in the right direction. But, the rest of the lockdown needs to end. The curfew absolutely needs to end immediately, the bars, and remaining shops need to re-open, and life needs to return to normal. We have beaten this thing, and any restrictions at this point, are simply draconian power grabs, on the part of the army. Let it go. Let the nation return to normalcy. Let the people get back to work. 

 

The grand experiment in insanity, that the major economies of the world participated in willingly, by shutting down their economies, for the first time in recorded history, needs to end here. Never before has something like this been done, for a dozen good reasons. The repercussions will be felt for years, and who is going to get hit the hardest? The little guy. 

It is great to read a post like yours. I don't bother participating in these forums much because they are dominated by ignorant "know it alls" and rule following idiots. You will probably be attacked for what you wrote, but it is the absolute truth and I salute you sir.

• The disease models were vastly overblown and the chief scientist responsible for the modelling has now resigned in disgrace.
• The fatality rate was vastly exaggerated - proven by antibody tests showing that the infection rate was at least 50 times higher than what has been officially reported in most countries.
• Lockdowns achieved nothing - proven by comparison of different states in the US, some who locked down and some who didn't, showing no significant difference in deaths.
• There is no evidence that the virus is easily transmissable outdoors, meaning that the closure of beaches and parks and the draconian restrictions of freedom of movement had no basis in science and were political acts of repression.
• Wearing masks outdoors doesn't help and may actually increase your risk of getting sick due to reduced oxygen intake and re-breathing of your own bacteria - this has been demonstrated in studies and is just common sense.
• The destruction of the economy, proven by research, is going to produce a tsunami of health issues, including, suicide, drug addiction, domestic violence, malnutrition and general despair.

If the admin of this site remove this post, calling it "misinformation" they are complicit in the above and should be ashamed of themselves.

History will prove we are right.

14 minutes ago, yuyiinthesky said:

If you would have given them a chance and watched it you would have noticed that they were indeed 2 doctors presenting. (And not just 2 doctors but 2 ER doctors, working every day at the Covid front.) 
So "doctors" was definitely correct.

"statements from the thousands of other doctors and healthcare workers who do not share his opinion" - this is the fallacy of the argument from consensus, a favourite technique of those who want to discredit dissenting opinion. As well as being a fallacy it's a dishonest style of discourse - it is a deliberate strategy of deflecting attention from the substance of an argument to some extraneous irrelevant fact. Science does not operate by consensus. These doctors are representing science, not pushing a political bandwagon. Their views are endorsed by many renowned doctors and epidemiologists around the world. That does not prove they are right, but it is foolish in the extreme to suggest that they are merely representing some marginal position.

1 hour ago, lkv said:

So in Sweden, where life expectancy is very high already, because of a very good health system, if a 94 year old person dies today and has covid-19 as a comorbidity, instead of dying in the next 3 months because of flu or the other comorbidities already existing,  you justify closing down economies and making all the active population starve to death?

The people who endorse these forced quarantines are out of touch with the reality of those whose survival depends on working every day for small amounts of cash. Such people are the voiceless multitudes. They just aren't super important. They can be sacrificed. As they commit suicide Bill Gates sips chardonnay. He will do a Ted talk next year and smirk while presenting a graph showing how the world population has declined.