Highlandman

What puzzles me is seeing children playing on their own, riding bicycles while wearing masks. You certainly don't see this in Laos. Just weeks ago, I went to a mall in Pakse. Full of children, not a single individual inside that mall was wearing a mask. Everywhere I went, City and countryside alike, no masks on children. In Cambodia, very rarely you saw a teenager wearing a mask riding a motorcycle or something but otherwise, there were none worn either.

I already have. Other than the odd mask on chin or sometimes mask dangling around their neck, 711 staff remain masked up, though this could change in the near future if THAI Airways is anything to go by.

Like the one staff member going outside for a smoke?

Yeah and time to get yourself some glasses. Be careful, you might fog them up while wearing your mask, that you so religiously wear.

No, I have eyes. Clearly you're blind or are becoming blind, because everyone and their dog notices what I do...except you. Anyway, yawn to your comments. I have better things to do than reply to your drivel.

Nah, that has nothing to do with it and won't change a thing even if Thailand's air quality were to approach that of Switzerland or Tasmania. Masks will always be worn here from now on, among probably 50% of the population at least and in some situations approaching 100% of the population in those circumstances. Dust or pollution isn't the main reason they're worn. It's fear of Covid (and each other) standing out from the crowd. It's following the herd. Thais love wearing masks; masks have become a sort of currency if you will. Mask wearing has become correlated with politeness in Thai culture (whereas everywhere else, they're regarded as being associated with illness and low self-esteem). In every other culture, wearing a mask during a meeting would be considered rude, but in Thailand it's considered "normal".

No, you're just continuing making useless off topic remarks because this topic makes you uncomfortable. You're probably one of the farang I still see wearing a mask at all times, so you can "fit in". I doubt you've gained any friends by doing this, but glad to know you feel virtuous doing so.

No, it's called using my eyes to notice things. You're simply a troll who's attempting to shut down debate because I'm presenting uncomfortable facts.

It's called noticing things. You might want to try it. Doesn't take much effort. Alternatively, stick your head in the sand and pretend this isn't happening. Then, once you emerge, if you can still think rationally, ask yourself WHY the rest of the world, not just western countries but also neighboring Asian countries, have all decided to go back to living normal, mask-free lives with only a small minority still donning masks on occasion. So I ask you, why is Thailand so obsessed with masking now, almost 1.5 years after the end of the mask mandate and over a year following the end of the state of emergency? Why Thailand but not Laos? Why Thailand but not China? Why Thailand but not India?

Precisely my experience. Maybe out of 100 7-11 staff, you might see 2 or 3 wearing their masks on their chin or around their neck, but never not at all. Like I mentioned earlier, it's CP policy to require masks be worn by their 7-11 staff, also at their branches in Cambodia, which are wholly CP owned. In Vietnam, whether masks are required by employees seems to be a case of the type of corporate owned business and its location. In downtown Saigon, where I spent most of my time, masks are definitely worn by staff at 7-11, Circle K and Family Mart as well as Annam Gourmet Supermarket. However, masks were not worn by staff at Circle K and some of the other aforementioned stores in locations further away from downtown urban areas. In particular, even in August 2022, staff already didn't wear masks at Circle K in Mui Ne, a beach town 200km east of Ho Chi Minh.

Yes but that "whataboutism" really isn't the point of this thread. We're not even examining whether we should consider Australians and Canadians brainwashed for following mandates during Covid (I would say they are brainwashed) the topic here is examining why Thais and seemingly only Thais, are still wearing masks, well over a year after the end of the government mandate and why citizens of other Asian countries simply aren't doing this. While there are certainly some mask wearers in other Asian countries (you'll still see the odd mask wearer even in western countries) its nowhere near as prevalent as here. From what I can tell, even in Japan, the rate of mask wearing seems to be lower than here. It remains high only in certain situations, but outdoors, in meetings, on TV etc. hardly anyone is masking anymore. On Thai TV, I still see some people masking in the TV studio! Yes, you still have guests wearing masks being interviewed by a presenter also wearing a mask. When I see this in 2023, I immediately change the channel (not that I watch much Thai TV, though I'm prone to flicking through TV channels when I'm about to go to bed while staying at a hotel when I'm on business either in upcountry Thailand or neighboring countries).

I've visited dozens all over the country and I can say that all of them have had masked staff. Occasionally, you'll see unmasked staff outdoors smoking a cigarette or some delivery person, unmasked, entering the store but among the employees, they're almost without exception, masked up. It could be that's about to change but remains to be seen. Another interesting thing is now THAI Airways (since October 1) are allowing their cabin crew to stop wearing masks, at least on international flights. Prior to this, not only did they require masks for all their cabin crew including pilots, but they blasted mask wearing "recommendations" at the beginning of each flight. No other airline I've flown with since August 2022 has done this. Yes Vietnam Airlines and Singapore Airlines cabin crew (though not their pilots) were wearing masks on flights I took with them last year and earlier this year, respectively, but there were no announcements requesting passengers wear one. Only Thai registered airlines and reportedly, Philippines Airlines has been doing this, since mask mandates were removed. I haven't flown THAI recently thus I wonder whether the mask announcements have ceased. I know that as of last month, they were still happening as a friend on a flight to Phuket attests to.

Great to see. I've noticed the same thing among staff working for Australian coffee chain the Coffee Club. As of last month, no masks worn by staff at their Pattaya branch, but inexplicably, at their Suvarnabhumi airport branch and all their Bangkok branches, all masked up still. I also noticed only a fraction of staff at Global House Chanthaburi wearing masks recently, which was very nice to see. However, go to a similar store in Bangkok and you'd be lucky to see more than 10% of staff unmasked. At least among customers, even in Bangkok, it's finally down to like 50-60% mask wearing. For some reason, certain places attract more mask wearers while adjacent ones have fewer. Tops at Central Bang Na (and the mall in general) has a consistent 75% rate of mask wearing among shoppers, while at nearby Mega Bang Na it's barely 50%. Many of the shoppers at Central Bang Na are older though, which might explain things. Among staff at Mega Bang Na, a lot of employees, at least at the smaller stores, have stopped masking. Strangely, at Paragon most staff are still masked despite being in a tourist heavy precinct, where mask wearing among shoppers is well under half, probably only 1/3 nowadays.

Except it does have a huge impact. Thais avoided foreigners during Covid and some still do now, because we're not obsessed with muzzling our faces at all times, even though the government removed the mandate long ago and has no intention of telling Thais to stop masking. Anutin said so himself in a July 2022 speech and of course, he's right. Do what you want, but don't impose your lunacy on others. If you do business in Thailand like I do, you'll notice that a majority of companies still have mask signs up. This is intimidating and spreads a negative message. A message of fear. Even if no longer enforced, which begs the question, why are these signs still up? Forgotten or waiting to be employed again in the future?

Not only do Thais wear masks at home, but they take this habit with them when traveling abroad. Case in point: late June, 2023. I'm at the Lao-China land border. Having driven there, I'm about to catch a train up to Kunming from nearby Mohan station. There are around 100 people inside the arrivals hall, consisting of roughly 70% Chinese nationals, 20% Lao and what I later determined to be Thai nationals (there were 10 of them). None of the Chinese nationals were masked. 3 of the Laotians were, one a monk, but he quickly removed his mask as it was stifling inside. The power then went off for 45 minutes. Yet out of the 10 Thais, 9 were masked, some of whom had 2 masks on. None of them ever attempted to catch their breath or remove their masks during this ordeal, where the temperature inside the hall, despite windows being open, must have exceeded 42 degrees Celcius. They then boarded a Lao registered bus driven by a maskless Lao driver to Jinghong, Sipsongbanna, 160km away. About a month later I was again in Laos, and it was a long weekend in Thailand. I've never seen as many Thai tourists in Laos as then. Out of all the mask wearers I saw, almost without exception, they were Thai. You could easily hear them speaking Thai while walking past you, proudly wearing their masks, while none of the westerners, Chinese or Korean tourists did. Not a single Lao vendor at the Luang Prabang night market wore a mask. It was amusing seeing masked Thais haggle with unmasked Lao vendors. Now only maybe 20% of the Thais that I saw wore masks, but that was 20% more than the number of other foreigners. There's something in Thai culture that has caused Thais to wear masks in a way they never would before Covid. It definitely comes from peer pressure, TV and social media.

It matters because it's anti social, makes you feel strange and unwelcoming. I literally have to think about whether I want to visit people at a certain company we've dealt with because of their strange Covid obsession. I'm certainly not going to go through the whole testing and mask wearing ritual just to visit them. Instead, I'll insist on meeting them at a nearby coffee shop where I'm sure they'll be happy to take off their masks, something that they're not allowed to do in their workplace.

Very unusual. Of all the hospitals and clinics I've passed by in recent months, mask wearing among both staff and visitors has always been 100% ever since early 2020, with the exception of very young children (although some parents mask their babies as young as 4 months old from what I've seen). The one exception might be private hospitals popular with foreigners such as Bumrungrad, where there are lots of foreign patients who simply don't wear masks. Arabs were among the first to stop wearing masks in July 2022, when all restrictions related to mask wearing were scrapped. My guess is you live in a very rural area, because as soon as you go to a larger town, whether it's Surin, Sri Saket, even Prasat in Surin province, Nakorn Sri Thammarat, literally anywhere in the country, mask wearing jumps to high levels in certain settings, with hospitals being at the top. You're right though, you will sometimes see strange things like Thais wearing a mask at Lotus, but not outdoors when it's dusty or in this case, a clinic. I'm just surprised, because I'm fairly sure nearly all clinics and hospitals still have mask signs up requesting (even if not absolutely requiring) masks be worn by all visitors and this is almost universally complied with from what I can tell, not only in Bangkok but most parts of the country.

Yawn. The semantics is getting boring. Off topic BTW. It's the mask wearing in general, particularly indoors, that makes zero sense. Show me how much diesel dust there is inside a Central Shopping mall with air filters and all.

It's not being nosey as just noticing how weird it is. I'm not one to tell people what to do. However, it is curious that ONLY Thai people are still masked, which was clearly NOT the case, prior to January 2020. When I travel to Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, China etc. I now see more or less the same amount of mask wearing as pre Covid. Maybe slightly more, but not by much. At most 20% of the general population is still masked in Vietnam and this includes all the motorcycle riders who ONLY wear masks while riding and take them off immediately upon disembarking. I was in Vietnam again last week for work and I didn't see even one Vietnamese person sit at a table in a restaurant wearing a mask. In Laos, 5% of the population wears a mask....in Vientiane. In the countryside its maybe 1%. If you count more than this, it's among motorcycle riders only (as dust protection). In Myanmar, essentially no masks are worn by anyone. In China, no one is masked outside of maybe 10% of train riders and hospitals. The only country where I've had meetings with recently where people have been wearing masks during the meeting was in Thailand. In Vietnam, it's unthinkable to do this these days. Ditto for China, Laos etc.

That's because they're indoctrinated. If they wear masks because they're sick, that's one thing and while I don't think they're helpful in such cases, I don't judge. However, it's totally anti-social and abnormal to wear masks when you're perfectly healthy, for no good reason. Wrong - Thais wearing masks have a huge issue with those not wearing masks in certain circumstances. During Covid, if you didn't wear a mask, you were an outcast and shunned by society. Even now, some circumstances dictate mask wearing. As a retiree, you might not be subjected to these situations, but visitors to certain companies MUST wear masks as a condition of entry. Masks MUST be worn at certain schools and during certain ceremonies. This won't ever change.

You said diesel dust. Same thing. All comes from diesel exhausts. Anything else you'd like to say, Einstein? I'm not saying you can't wear a mask while riding your motorcycle, provided you also wear a helmet (the Vietnamese do that). Up to you as they say. Thais aren't wearing masks while seated at restaurants to prevent diesel fumes or diesel dust from being inhaled. They're doing this because they've been successfully indoctrinated into what is a cult. A strange cult known as muzzle wearing. Most locals don't even know why they're wearing masks anymore but I continue to see tons of locals always wear their mask, unless eating or drinking. This is clearly permanent. We won't see any changes even in 2025 or 2027. I predict only 10% less mask wearing than at present, come October 2024.

No I haven't. Not many Thais wore masks then and there were no mandates. You're boring. 2 years ago, there was a mask mandate in place, unlike now. What's boring is seeing Thais continue to live in fear when everything is normal everywhere outside the country. What is clear is that Thais live in a strange world filled with fear and that we should be having a conversation with them asking them WHY? Why are you still afraid? For a country that relies so much on tourism and is supposed to be the "land of smiles" this behavior is odd. It's clear Thais have been greatly brainwashed and indoctrinated by their government since early 2020. No other Asian country has experienced this insane level of brainwashing. Not even China. The Chinese have moved on and are back to living normal lives without disgusting and useless masks that only serve to perpetuate fear and keep people under control.

Thais seem to be much more conformist than their neighbors in China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and even Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. I wonder why that is? I've been to all these countries post Covid, some of them, multiple times. I've been to Laos 5 times already this year. Cambodia twice (technically, 4 times if you count the fact I made 4 separate entries to Cambodia, two times on the way to and from Vietnam), Vietnam 4 times and Malaysia twice. The others, so far once each. What I've noticed is that the only country out of these still absolutely obsessed with masks and Covid, is Thailand. In all the others, I feel free and that the people have moved on. Thailand refuses to move on and I just don't understand why. Granted, things are much better in Phuket, other island areas and very rural parts of the country, but there is still more mask wearing in Phuket than anywhere in Laos, Cambodia, China or Myanmar.

Correct and this only applies to Thai employers. They'll never remove the mandate. I've been to 7-11s all over the country, from Chiang Saen in the north to Hat Yai in the south in recent months and always, without exception, all employees are masked. I've also noticed this at CP owned 7-11 stores in Cambodia. However, go to any any other corporate owned business in Cambodia and no masks are worn. At 7-11 in Malaysia, employees haven't been wearing masks (unless they chose to) since my first post Covid visit in December 2022 and it was the same in July 2023, no masks worn and this was in Penang. In Vientiane, Thailand owned Rimping (which has 2 supermarkets there) also require all their employees to wear masks. However, at Chinese owned supermarkets, no masks are worn by staff. At Parkson mall, some employees wear masks (or did, back in July) while no one at BCEL bank is masked. Meanwhile, the vast majority (though not all) bank staff at any bank in Thailand are masked. So it's definitely a power and control thing and seems to be very much Thai. Of course masks are still occasionally worn at some retailers in other Asian countries, but the policy is not nearly as universal and consistently applied like it is here. Case in point is Vietnam - circle K employees wear masks in some locations but not others. Ditto for 7-11 and Family Mart.

No, they didn't. I think you need to refresh your memory. Firstly, each Asian country is different and this includes their mask wearing habits. Your generalization is inaccurate and offensive. 0.5% of Thais wore masks before Covid, meaning they only wore them if they were sick, working in a hospital or if the conditions were really dusty. Vietnamese only ever wore them while riding motorcycles in the cities. Never did you have mask mandates before 2020 in Thailand and never did you see the ridiculous situation of seeing an entire Thai family walking through a mall while masked, in October 2023, well over a year following the end of the mask mandate and keeping their masks on while seated at a restaurant and holding meetings where everyone is masked up! That's not normal but Thais do this, because they've been brainwashed. I can assure you that other Asians do NOT do this. In China, where I was recently, almost no one wears a mask anymore. Even stores inside malls don't have mask wearing employees, except for McDonald's and the odd tea shop for some reason. You didn't even see Chinese company executives wearing masks during meetings DURING Covid. I know, given my Chinese colleagues held plenty of meetings during Covid and always without a mask. In Thailand, they're still requiring masks to be worn at many companies. I experienced this last week during a meeting.