BernieOnTour

Well... 

If these chinese gambling den owners are so dangerous- then I really do not understand,

why not only the police men are standing without any cover directly in front of the villa, just a few meters away 

and that they let also civilian bystanders watch in such a short distance.

And - I have no idea about modern SWAT team tactics ...

However, if we would have moved like that in our basic training in the Army many years ago,

not really coordinating among each other,

leaving so many sectors totally uncovered,

we would have been into many hours of overtime... forget your weekend leave! 555

... just my 10 shillings...

On 5/18/2021 at 11:54 PM, webfact said:

The same regulations apply to visitors who arrive by land transport. People who do not have a certificate of vaccination and have not taken a swab test will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine. If they plan to spend only three days in Phuket, they are required to stay in home quarantine for the three days. The measures take effect today.

Well ... up to you !

Somnamna, stop the local tourism by enforcing vaccination.

 Farewell, Phuket !

Good idea ???? !

If they apply similar processes like the mail-in ballots in several states for the Nov. 2020 elections :

That’s a good chance for western looking Non-US-citizens to get your jab !

????

What does that mean?

Start the cleansing, throw the dirty Gweilo out of Phuket?

- so that our preferred friends from the wonderful PR China feel safe

and can buy some cheap condos and houses ?

7 hours ago, NE1 said:

That is no different to a large family sitting round a dinner table .

But like the the Darts and the Bridge , it is much more newsworthy when it is the " white devils " doing it.

Yep !

If they would leave out the „pool villa“ and „foreigners“,

and instead chase Thai families and groups,

even if the day had 72 hours, they would not catch all.

I am always astonished, to what Covid is driving some ThaiVisa members ...

It seems, there is quite a number feeling entitled to be 

a „Blockwart“ (block leader) or denouncer.

... something reminding me of the worst times of history in Europe.

????

3 minutes ago, whiteflight said:

In 6 months time a lot of people will have died who did not have to die.

... and based on the average death rates from 2019,

1,492 x 180 = 268,560 would have anyway died

Compare that to the 318 Covid death

in ~ 14 months :

Those 318 are equivalent to 318 / 1,492 * 24 hours

= ~ 5 hours of all the deaths on a average day 

For sure, the question of under-reporting will now pop up again ...

Even, if we would (wrongfully) assume a 10-fold higher number of Covid deaths,

we would still only talk about 2 days of average deaths in 14 months.

2 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

That was a knee jerk reaction at the very commencement of what has become the third wave........ an attempt to prevent it..........if the virus were widespread and rampant at that time do you seriously believe they would be rushing to vaccinated illegal migrant workers????

well ... ????

If arguing like that,

you are literally crushing all the News

about the rampant, extraordinary dangerous increase of the virus spread at that time...

????

6 minutes ago, Geir Rasch said:

 

I do not know where you are from, but in my home country (Norway) it would be totally incorrect to think like that. We want to practise that all residents are equal with the same access to public health care.

You are mixing something up:

Residents

and tourists

I would bet, 99% here on this Forum do not have residency status,

they are mostly tourists with a visa or pensioners with an extension of stay. Having a work permit and paying into the system is a tiny minority here.

Whereas I would assume, in Norway, the residents mostly work, pay income tax and contribute to the social welfare system.

Additionally, afaik I know, staying in Norway, you pay a VAT of 25% (not to talk about the ridiculous alcohol tax 555).

Compare that to Thailand‘s 7% VAT !

We have a lot of people here coming from places, where the Cost of Living Index is easily 2, 3, even 5 times higher than in Thailand.

That means: even based only on a tourist status, it allows you to save a huge amount of money.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch !

... if you are keen on getting the vaccine,

do not ask for a „free jab“,

pay with a small amount of that money, you saved by staying here.

Why should they ever consider to give a „free jab“ to any foreigner ?

1) 99% of us are guests in their country and do not support one Satang to their national health system

2) most of us are either tourists (which should be covered with a travel insurance) or retired and have to show proof of an income > 65k, far higher than the normal Thai 

3) when going to a Thai hospital with a broken leg, you also have to pay for yourself

If you are really so keen to get that vaccination,

pay for yourself !

20 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

That's a pretty good sized piece of cheese for the driver...4 or 5 deliveries a day and they've done okay...anything more is gravy. I guess that's why there seems to be no shortage of drivers (and they don't have to join a moto-mafia taxi que to get work).

What did you expect, why we have this pandemic?

The real exponential virus increase (with a R0 ~ 3 during lockdowns) in LoS is that of the

Green Virus, also called Grab virus.

Similar to Covid driving Influenza to nearly zero,

the Green Virus managed to nearly extinguish the formerly endemic Pink Virus, sometimes also called Panda.

????

12 hours ago, mark131v said:

 

They are not in most of the civilised worlds that don't rely on coups...

 

UK is all done by at risk groups so elderly and vulnerable and medical professional's then everybody else by by age group and risk factor, most of the civilised world is done the same way

 

Anutin would not be in a top group or an at risk group and neither would the young soldier unless she was a medical professional not available through the healthcare system

 

I stand by my statement their priorities seem to be me and my powerbase first rest of you fight over the scraps, as usual...

... not only in Thailand !

There are several „western“ countries, where Police and Army have also priority.

For example: All US Soldiers participating in Defender-Europe 21 were reported to have been vaccinated already with the 2nd jab.

On 5/1/2021 at 4:35 AM, Rookiescot said:

If I am only offered the sino vac then I will pay for a western vaccine myself.

Well, seems, most people are not aware, where those “western” vaccines are produced, eg. :

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/astrazeneca-strikes-first-china-manufacturing-092729395.html

Add in to that, check, were  the raw materials from those „western“ vaccines are produced ...

And: regarding adherence to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) in ramped up and debottlenecked „western“ vaccine production sites, you should maybe check this:

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/21/health/fda-emergent-johnson--johnson-vaccine-bn/index.html

Or this : https://news.yahoo.com/hong-kong-resume-pfizer-shots-083353140.html

????

9 hours ago, HaoleBoy said:

Let the police check on the limits since they aren't doing ANYTHING right now.

That “franchise” organization is only interested to do ANYTHING,

if the expected profits are high enough ... ????

13 hours ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

“Lockdown everything! Forever! It’s a doomsday virus and nobody should ever be able to do anything except receive food delivery, work from home, and watch Netflix in their downtime.”

 

 

As someone, who -as a youngster- had still contact with people, who experienced WW2, some even WW1, 

I am immediately getting wary,

when the term “Hero” is being used ....

(However, maybe I misunderstood you and your post was sarcastic ...)

17 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

Here are the testing figures up till yesterday https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/situation.php

 

The figure of 50k+ you refer to is from raw data that includes many repeat tests and cannot be used to determine accurate detection rates unless you want to speculate. The figures in the chart is actual people tested.

Comparing such numbers to European countries has its difficulties, due to the different approach...

In most European countries, the PCR test capacities go into the 100-thousands per week. They, to say it vividly, “test into the darkness”, most people tested without any evidence for a SARS-CoV2 infection. It’s mass testing. That’s not only a question of capacities, but also budgets (I remember reading somewhere, the costs for testing in the UK are similar to the annual budget of the NHS - maybe, someone could try to verify or refute it).

Thailand, with its constrictions on capacities and funds, is still more selective. They have to concentrate more on contact tracing (IMHO astonishingly good at this), people with symptoms and clusters. Same as in the first months last year in Europe, when capacities and logistics had still to be ramped up, this leads to a higher percentage of positives.

5 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

So presumably non-Thais are going to fall somewhere after the above schedules?

Before the bashing of Thai and their attitude towards Foreigners is starting again,

we should first ask:

Which of the countries, we are stemming from,

restricted the export of vaccines,

or at least unsuccessfully tried to do that ?

. . . 

Just now, bluedoc said:

It’s blatantly obvious that the government is controlling the numbers.

Same as everywhere in those countries under “western” influence (compare PR China and Russia).

If you look into the official documentation, we had before in average ~ 20,000 PCR-tests per week, on Apri 17th, it were already 55,000.

What sensivity and specifity of PCR-tests mean and how they effect false positives and false negatives, should be meanwhile clear to everyone a little bit interested, how to deal with Covid ...

However, there are also other important components influencing the results:

- do they check in parallel for 3, 2, or only 1 representative DNA parts of the virus, are 3, 2, or only 1 representative DNA part sufficient to come to a positive result?

- do they use a sensible cT-value of 25 (multiplication of ~ 34,000,000) or use instead a cT-value of 45 (multiplication of ~ 35,000,000,000,000), as before done in Germany  ?

Not really a positive accessment for the NHS:

”It's been a blessing in disguise I was diagnosed in Thailand because I have been told

if I was in the UK I would have been given palliative treatment

so I would probably have been dead by now.”

5 minutes ago, SlavaT said:

US political statement regarding Sputnik vaccine since last year can be found in US Department of Health report. Source - https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2020-annual-report.pdf

As usual ...

What has “to the detriment of US safety and security”

to do with giving vaccines to those, who might need it?

Maybe, the Russians and China didn’t do, what Pfizer did in Latin America:

 https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-02-23/held-to-ransom-pfizer-demands-governments-gamble-with-state-assets-to-secure-vaccine-deal

“... has asked some countries to put up sovereign assets, such as embassy buildings and military bases, as a guarantee against the cost of any future legal cases...”

Reminds me of United Fruit in the 60’s ...

On 4/25/2021 at 4:53 PM, Danderman123 said:

It's hard to understand your point, but I gather that it is:

 

Lots of uninfected people are asymptomatic, and

 

There are cures for Covid-19. I suspect you are referring to fake cures such as HCQ, Ivermectin or Forsythia.

 

One thing to understand about asymptomatic cases, they can still spread the virus, and many incur permanent lung damage. If you are not afraid of catching Covid-19, it's because you are misinformed. I should also mention that the more infected, the higher the chances of mutations that may not be so benign for most people.

 

To paraphrase Kurt Tucholsky:

”I would rather prefer a skeptical Catholic to a devout atheist. "

????

23 hours ago, jaiyen said:

And how are the long awaited tourists supposed to get to Phuket ?  No planes are flying from most of the countries, definitely none from Australia.  Thai Airways won't be flying for years, if ever again !

Forget your village-centric point of view - take a global view ????

China: ~ 18% of the world population 

Australia: ~ 0.3% of the world population 

????

17 hours ago, Shuya said:

Guess a new governor for Bangkok will take over soon

For sure not !

Nothing else than a good marketing gag.

”if even the prime minister... - then ... ! “