edwardandtubs

1 hour ago, Credo said:

You won't get an explanation because there are no plausible explanations for a conspiracy.  For them, the idea of 'controlling' people is paramount, so naturally wearing a mask can't have anything to do with minimizing the health risk to the general population, so they must be simply using this to control us.  Once we are trained, they will control other things.   

That argument might have sounded very clever in the middle of 2021 but most countries of the world have now ditched masking. All you're doing now is revealing yourself to be someone who slavishly follows authoritarian clowns like Prayuth.

I look forward to your report.

How was this border in the past for people seeking a visa exempt entry? I know there were problems with some Burmese borders but not sure if this was one of them.

24 minutes ago, rabiedabruce said:

They've all pretty much left Phuket after flooding the island. Good. Hope the next purported Chinese invasion falls flat too. Bring back faux vid.

Really? The Russians have all left Phuket? That seems a bit far-fetched.

I'm planning a beach holiday and am looking for somewhere not overrun with Russians. I like Kata but fear it will be full of them.

2 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Most pandemics come to an end.

 

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/will-the-coronavirus-pandemic-ever-end

 

However, the COVID-19 pandemic eventually will end. 

 

If you’re weary of this pandemic, it’s important to remember that you can literally help bring about the end of it by taking individual actions to curb its spread. 

 

https://blogs.webmd.com/public-health/20200911/will-covid-ever-end

 

 

Pandemics come to an end when people consider them to be at an end and get on with their lives. The virus itself though remains endemic and covid is no different. So if you're hoping you can hide away until some time in the future when everything will be safe, that time will never come.

23 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Why aren't we? Do you have some evidence that this virus will never end? Other's have, why not this one?

No endemic respiratory virus has ever come to an end and no scientist or health authority expects this one to.

7 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I pay attention to credible information sources on the subject (including the primary public health organizations like CDC and WHO), and actually read and comprehend the entirety of what's reported.

 

Scientific evidence supports the use of face masks to reduce COVID-19 spread, mainly by preventing infectious liquid particles from reaching uninfected people

 

"COVID-19 is mainly transmitted through infectious liquid particles spread from infected to uninfected individuals. Masks act as simple physical barriers that reduce the dissemination of these liquid particles, which are generated by people when they cough, sneeze, or speak. Several published studies showed that wearing face masks reduces the spread of viral infectious diseases like COVID-19."

 

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/scientific-evidence-supports-wearing-a-face-mask-to-reduce-covid-19-spread-mainly-by-preventing-infectious-liquid-particles-from-reaching-other-people/

 

Nice googling again but we're never going to reach a stage where all the world's health organisations and scientists come out together and say, "It's alright everyone! Panic over! It's safe to come out now without your masks on!" So you'll be living the rest of your life in a state fear and anxiety, hiding behind your mask and spending all day justifying that to yourself by posting on this forum every five minutes. If you want to live your life that way, that's fine, but most people have chosen to move on.

18 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

As the Cochrane authors explained, a lot of the studies they included in their reporting pre-dated COVID entirely

The Conversation article also contains studies that predate covid but you don't seem to think that invalidates the conclusions. It's clear that you're living in a state of fear and anxiety about covid and you'll search Google and then paste on this forum anything that you think validates these fears.

12 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

1. Portraying the Cochrane article as some kind of proof that face mask wearing doesn't help prevent COVID, when the authors themselves (as quoted above) explain in their Conclusions section that their findings have serious limitations with low confidence level and may not be correct.

 

"There is uncertainty about the effects of face masks. The low to moderate certainty of evidence means our confidence in the effect estimate is limited, and that the true effect may be different from the observed estimate of the effect."

 

And further:

 

"Key messages
We are uncertain whether wearing masks or N95/P2 respirators helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses based on the studies we assessed."

 

2. As for the future, I guess that's going to depend on the future.... the future path of the virus, the future of vaccines, the future of available treatment medications, etc etc. I'm not a fortune teller.

 

You seem to struggle with interpreting scientific articles. All scientific studies have limitations. It's totally normal and a section on limitations is found in all articles. All I did was quote the main findings of the study, hardly "overstating" and "misrepresenting".

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

You're continuing to overstate and misrepresent just what the Cochrane article authors concluded.

 

In what way have I "overstated" and "misrepresented" it?

And I notice you dodged my question. Do you expect people to wear masks for the rest of their lives?

6 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The authors of The Conversation article are all scientists explaining the science of why the claims that anti-maskers have made based on the Cochrane article are overstated and without credible foundation.

 

That's the nature of scientific debate. A group of leading scientists publish an article and another group disagree with them. And you expect people to wear a mask for the rest of their lives on that basis?

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Yes, I pay attention to credible COVID-related info sources such as John Hopkins and The Conversation. As for the latter, for your info:

 

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-conversation/

 

I know how much you like googling and pasting the results but it's still just an opinion article. They're not presenting any evidence that prove the effectiveness of masking.

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

See the explanation above. The Cochrane article is a hodge-podge of different studies measuring different things with different standards.

 

As The Conversation report explained above:

 

"A systematic review is only as good as the rigour it employs in combining similar studies of similar interventions, with similar measurement of outcomes. When very different studies of different interventions are combined, the results are not informative."

 

https://theconversation.com/yes-masks-reduce-the-risk-of-spreading-covid-despite-a-review-saying-they-dont-198992

And you feel people should live their lives by following someone's opinion in The Conversation?

2 hours ago, Tingnongnoi said:

got of plane from BKK and there is a desk as you come out minibus that drops off at the Thai immigration at the bridge for 400 baht

Thanks for the info. Please let us know about public transportation options on the way back.

3 minutes ago, transam said:

Don't be silly, use your loaf........

You would believe my Rolex from Chong Mek was real...............????

Rolex watches cost about 500,000 baht each. Food-safe plastic bags cost about 100 baht a kilogram. Please explain what these dodgy imitation plastic bags are made from and how the manufacturers manage to make a profit.

2 minutes ago, transam said:

????.................Hang on, I'll see if they advertise dodgy plastic bags on Lazada.........????

So in what top secret location do they sell these dodgy plastic bags? And what are they made of?