TallGuyJohninBKK

More independent, peer-reviewed research that COVID vaccinations help reduce the transmission of the virus in the months following vaccination, even though they don't block it entirely: Infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections and reinfections during the Omicron wave Published: 02 January 2023 "Analyzing SARS-CoV-2 surveillance data from December 2021 to May 2022 across 35 California state prisons with a predominately male population, we estimate that unvaccinated Omicron cases had a 36% (95% confidence interval (CI): 31–42%) risk of transmitting infection to close contacts, as compared to a 28% (25–31%) risk among vaccinated cases. In adjusted analyses, we estimated that any vaccination, prior infection alone and both vaccination and prior infection reduced an index case’s risk of transmitting infection by 22% (6–36%), 23% (3–39%) and 40% (20–55%), respectively. Receipt of booster doses and more recent vaccination further reduced infectiousness among vaccinated cases. These findings suggest that, although vaccinated and/or previously infected individuals remain highly infectious upon SARS-CoV-2 infection in this prison setting, their infectiousness is reduced compared to individuals without any history of vaccination or infection. This study underscores benefit of vaccination to reduce, but not eliminate, transmission." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02138-x

Just to clarify a bit, the news report from the Independent linked above has the following recap of the penalties against the convicted officers: "Boone was convicted and sentenced to 366 days in prison, while Myers was given a year's probation. Colletta was given three years probation and two consecutive weekends in prison for lying to the grand jury. Both Colletta and Hays pleaded guilty to their charges. Hays was sentenced to 52 months in prison and two years of probation, according to NBC5." https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/black-undercover-officer-beaten-st-louis-b2531716.html So in other words, according to the Independent, three of the four received some prison time in their sentences, with two of the four getting meaningful time. In summary: --Hays was sentenced to 52 months in prison and two years of probation --Boone was convicted and sentenced to 366 days in prison --Colletta was given three years probation and two consecutive weekends in prison for lying to the grand jury --Myers was given a year's probation.

It's been clearly shown that COVID vaccines reduce [not eliminate] the risk of symptomatic infection and reduce the risks of hospitalization and serious illness from COVID: "CDC data show that vaccination [with the newest vaccines] offered significant protection. People who received the updated COVID-19 vaccine were 54% less likely to get COVID-19 during the four-month period from mid-September to January. The vaccine provided similar levels of protection against XBB lineage variants and the JN.1 variant." https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7304a2.htm and "Studies designed to accurately assess vaccine impact on COVID transmission also show that vaccination DOES reduce the chance of person-to-person spread of the virus." https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/transmission/2023/12/05/get-your-updated-covid-vaccine/ and "Getting a COVID-19 vaccine reduces the risk of infection with the COVID-19 virus and slows the spread of COVID-19. Also, vaccination can prevent severe illness from COVID-19." https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/featured-topic/covid-19-vaccine-myths-debunked

High humidity and high pollution levels don't cause people to become infected with the COVID virus.... But, there could be related effects, such as more people staying indoors in confined air con spaces to avoid the heat outside. And people traveling back home to visit families for Song Kran. And the generally greater socialization occurring during this time of the year. Though, it has been shown that people exposed to high pollution levels are at risk for worse symptoms once infected with COVID. "Emerging research, including a study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, finds that breathing more polluted air over many years may itself worsen the effects of COVID-19. The Harvard Chan study led by Xiao Wu and Rachel Nethery and senior author Francesca Dominici found an association between air pollution over many years with an 11% increase in mortality from COVID-19 infection for every 1 microgram/cubic meter increase in air pollution (for comparison, many Americans breathe air with 8 micrograms/cubic meter of particulate matter)." https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/subtopics/coronavirus-and-pollution/

Simple so-called medical masks have some benefit in that they tend to capture/reduce the particles exhaled by the wearer.... So they have some benefit in reducing the risk to people around the wearer. But as you say, they don't have as much value in protecting the wearing from inhaling COVID particles that may be in the air, because they don't form a seal. For that purpose, N95 and similar masks are the way to go, because if worn properly, they provide an airtight seal in the face that only allows filtered air in and out. ----------------------------- "It’s true that masks work best when everyone around you is wearing one. That’s because when an infected person wears a mask, a large percentage of the infectious particles they exhale are trapped, stopping viral spread at the source. And when fewer viral particles are floating around the room, the masks others are wearing are likely to block those particles that have escaped. But there is also plenty of evidence showing that masks protect the wearer, even when others around them are mask-free. The amount of protection depends on the quality of the mask and how well it fits. Health experts recommend using an N95, KN95 or KF94 to protect yourself against the Omicron subvariant BA.2, which is now the dominant version of the coronavirus and is far more infectious than previous strains." New York Times https://archive.ph/jIsm5

The only statistics being reported by the MoPH here for serious condition/pneumonia symptoms and those requiring intubation are hospitalized patients with confirmed positive tests for COVID. Pneumonia type symptoms can be a standard manifestation of COVID. The MoPH is classifying them as COVID cases, even if you aren't.

The weekly numbers of COVID hospitalizations have been rising steadily since mid-March, long before Song Kran, and have now doubled since that time, going from about 500 then to now 1,000 per week. The same kind of upswing occurred last spring in Thailand as well, and weekly COVID hospitalizations at their peak last spring exceeded 3,000. The spring upswing last year didn't subside until mid-July. As OP report recounts: "It was found that patients requiring hospital treatment increased by 18.26% [for the most recent week], with this having risen continuously for six weeks in a row."

You're getting confused about the different numbers and what they represent. The professor's 10,000 estimate is that of COVID cases/infections among the population. He's estimating the daily count of new infections based on the actual main hard number they have -- COVID-confirmed hospitalizations. The 1,000+ number is new and confirmed COVID hospitalizations from the past week. The 3 count is COVID confirmed deaths from the past week. The other two numbers are the current counts of COVID hospitalized patients in serious condition with pneumonia type symptoms, and a separate tally for those requiring intubation. The Thai government last year stopped publicly reporting mere COVID infection statistics (cases), as it rolled back COVID testing and transitioned out of what previously had been its public health "emergency" mode for COVID. So I think his point in offering the 10,000 COVID infections per day estimate is to make the public aware that COVID is still circulating pretty broadly in Thailand, even if only a much smaller portion of those (1,000+ per week right now) end up requiring hospitalization.

So COVID deaths only matter if they involve "younger folks? And we don't need to be concerned about the 1,000+ new weekly COVID hospitalizations reported by the Thai government, or the 214 COVID patients currently hospitalized in serious condition, or the 144 of those requiring intubation to breath -- all patients for whom the MoPH doesn't give any age breakdown? But we DO know that COVID certainly has the potential to cause serious health problems, and even death, for "younger folks" -- even though those are more rare than for older folks. For example, from the U.S.: As Covid-19 hospitalizations climb, rates among seniors and children raise concern September 22, 2023 ... "Seniors have the highest rates of Covid hospitalizations by far, but hospitalizations among children — especially among those younger than 5 — are rising fast." ... a new analysis of federal data from the American Academy of Pediatrics showed hospital admissions among children are rising faster than average. Nearly 1,200 children were admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 during the week ending September 9, marking a five-fold increase over the past three months. Hospitalizations among adults increased about three-fold in that same time period." ... Children accounted for 6% of all Covid-19 hospital admissions during the week ending September 9, federal data shows. And children under 5 were the most at risk, with about half of all pediatric Covid-19 hospitalizations among those younger than 5, according to the AAP analysis. https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/22/health/covid-hospitalizations-seniors-kids-vaccines/index.html

Some 700,000 Brits To Get Free Covid-19 Booster Shots This Week Some 700,000 people in England will get a free Covid-19 vaccine this week as the country’s spring booster campaign kicks off. Starting Monday, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems will be able to get a shot free of charge to reduce the impact of the disease. ... Steve Russell, who directs vaccines and immunizations at the country’s public health system, the National Health Service, said last years’ data showed “those who received the spring jab were up to 50% less likely to be admitted to hospital for three to four months afterwards.” (more) https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehignett/2024/04/21/some-700000-brits-to-get-free-covid-19-booster-shots-this-week/?sh=322a86724d6b

"They allowed the mentally ill individual to sit inside the police pickup without restraints, with his mother accompanying..." A professional police force??? Training??? Where I come from, police vehicles typically have metal grills/screens or other partitions blocking the open space between the front seats and rear seats of those vehicles, specifically to avoid just the kind of incident that occurred here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Backseat_of_the_Georgian_new_police_car.jpg Why Are Wire Mesh Partitions So Important for Police Vehicles? "Almost every law enforcement agency relies on mesh partitions for police vehicles. A partition can improve the safety of passengers, officers, and cargo while also improving the vehicle’s overall functionality. Wire grid partitions give officers additional assurance that they will be safe and fully equipped with the proper gear to carry out their work." https://www.madsenwire.com/blog/why-are-wire-mesh-partitions-so-important-for-police-vehicles/ https://www.quora.com/When-did-they-start-putting-partitions-in-police-cars

3BB fiber via U.S.-based VPN:

Not noticing any problems with my 3BB fiber service today.... But I'm connecting via the U.S. and primarily accessing U.S. sources, so presumably those would be unaffected by a Singapore to Europe cable problem.

Also worth noting, the latest Thai MoPH weekly report on COVID also gives the following cumulative COVID stats for thus far in 2024: COVID new hospitalizations (9,593) & COVID deaths (72), though the deaths figure probably should be asterisked because MoPH long ago adopted a very narrow definition of what's considered a COVID death, basically only those driven by respiratory symptoms, whereas COVID in fact causes death thru various other means as well, and deaths that occur outside of hospitals likely are never assessed for cause. MoPH Weekly COVID report for April 14-20: https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

Thailand doesn't publicly report comparable figures for each of those diseases... But the U.S. does, and neither the flu nor colds nor dengue fever have been killing anywhere near the 1,000 per week rates that COVID had been driving in the U.S. Seasonal, yes. Comparable, no. Latest CDC data suggests U.S. COVID deaths are running about double those associated with the flu, as follows: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm Same for hospitalizations: COVID: Flu:

COVID remains in the news all the time, even now, though you have to look a bit harder to find it. But there are people, including many here, who want to deny and deflect that it's continuing to be a major health issue, especially for older people and those with chronic medical conditions. As an example of that, the U.S. just recently ended a 29-week-long streak of COVID deaths of 1,000 or more per week. Unlike Thailand, the spring is the low-COVID period in the U.S., so the numbers there have been falling lately. The U.S. had reached a seasonal peak of more than 2,500 weekly COVID deaths back at the beginning of the year. https://aseannow.com/topic/1323433-report-28th-week-in-a-row-with-more-than-1000-new-covid-deaths-in-the-us/?do=findComment&comment=18840334 Likewise, the UK's most recent report shows that they currently are having about 100 COVID deaths per week. https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/ NHS rolls out new variant Covid vaccine as virus kills 100 a week https://www.mylondon.news/news/health/nhs-rolls-out-new-variant-29011931 Another factor is, as the WHO regularly reports, many countries have either stopped or limited their public reporting on COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths. So once a country stops reporting what's going on, the news tends to cease as well.

Another Thai news report that fails to fully convey what's really been going on lately with COVID in Thailand. While the latest single week hospitalization numbers reported by Thai PBS are correct as far as they go... What they fail to report is that new weekly COVID hospitalizations in Thailand had been rising steadily since well before Song Kran, and in fact have DOUBLED in the past six weeks since mid-March, as shown below from the MoPH's weekly COVID reports: March 16 -- 501 March 23 -- 630 March 30 -- 728 April 6 -- 774 April 13 -- 849 April 20 -- 1,004 Links to all of those weekly reports have been posted here: https://aseannow.com/topic/1311049-weekly-thai-ministry-of-public-health-covid-reports/?do=findComment&comment=18783819 and also are available directly from the MoPH here: https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main What the Thai PBS report also doesn't tell you is that the latest weekly total of 1,004 new COVID hospitalizations is Thailand's highest weekly tally of those since early July 2023, almost a year ago, when the number hit 1,193. And, that Thailand experienced a similar seasonal COVID hospitalizations spike a year ago, starting in mid-April 2023 and continuing thru mid-July 2023 that saw new weekly COVID hospitalizations peak at 3,085 by early June 2023. So the numbers this year may well continue rising in the weeks ahead.

Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for Apr. 14 - 20, 2024: --1,004 new COVID hospitalizations, up 155 from the prior week --3 new COVID deaths, down 1 from the prior week --292 current COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition (pneumonia symptoms), up 50 from the prior week (dark purple) --101 current COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation/ventilation to breathe, up 15 from the prior week (light purple) Cumulative figures since the start of the current year are COVID new hospitalizations (9,593) & COVID deaths (72). Of the 3 new official COVID deaths, the MoPH below is reporting that all were male and age 70 and above. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main Reported weekly COVID new hospitalizations have now risen for the past 6 consecutive weeks since mid-March and doubled over that period, as follows for the weeks ending: March 16 -- 501 March 23 -- 630 March 30 -- 728 April 6 -- 774 April 13 -- 849 April 20 -- 1,004

Some people here either seem to have not read past the OP headline or not fully understood what the OP report was saying. AFAIK, the researchers here are talking about being able to use their new vaccine technology to develop DIFFERENT INDIVIDUAL future vaccines against different kinds of viruses, such as COVID or the flu, among others. Not one single vaccine that would work against all viruses/illnesses. The promised / hoped for differences with their new vaccine technology would be at least three-fold. First, they're saying the single shot of a vaccine using their technology ought to remain effective against subsequent mutations of its particular target virus, much moreso than is the case now. Second, they're hopeful that their new technology also will mean much longer vaccine effectiveness without people having to go back for annual boosters. And third, they're hopeful that their new vaccine technology, with lesser potential side effects than current vaccines, would allow their vaccines to be given to broader populations of people.

Ya, I had and used Bluestacks before, and the experience was a bit buggy on my PC where I had installed it. I uninstalled Bluestacks after the MS Win 11 Android store became available... But from now on, I'll probably just rely more on my Android TV streaming boxes or a large Android tablet I have when I want/need Android apps.

Tracking AI-enabled Misinformation: 802 ‘Unreliable AI-Generated News’ Websites (and Counting), Plus the Top False Narratives Generated by Artificial Intelligence Tools NewsGuard has so far identified 802 AI-generated news and information sites operating with little to no human oversight, and is tracking false narratives produced by artificial intelligence tools Last Updated April 15, 2024 "These websites typically have generic names, such as iBusiness Day, Ireland Top News, and Daily Time Update, which to a consumer appear to be established news sites. This obscures that the sites operate with little to no human oversight and publish articles written largely or entirely by bots — rather than presenting traditionally created and edited journalism, with human oversight. The sites have churned out dozens and in some cases hundreds of generic articles, about a range of subjects including politics, technology, entertainment, and travel. The articles have sometimes included false claims, including about political leaders (see example below relating to the Israeli Prime Minister). Other false claims relate to celebrity death hoaxes, fabricated events, and articles presenting old events as if they just occurred." https://www.newsguardtech.com/special-reports/ai-tracking-center/

Upshot - their new vaccine method has been tested successfully thus far in mice, but not yet humans. The article says a vaccine candidate could be ready to start human trials in about a year.

At the beginning of the pandemic, many people hoped that infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 — or vaccines against the virus — would provide durable lifetime immunity, as is the case with diseases like measles or mumps. Instead, the COVID virus is more akin to the influenza virus, which mutates constantly and confers only short-term immunity. Both COVID and the flu require new and different vaccine formulas aimed at defeating newly circulating variants of the viruses. The inevitable result of this has been, for most of us, increasing vaccine fatigue. But what if it were possible to protect against COVID and the flu, and other unknown viruses that haven't yet emerged, with just one shot? If that became reality, seasonal or annual boosters would be part of the past. And what if such vaccinations didn't even require a needle? While those possibilities may sound far in the future, scientists at the University of California, Riverside, believe they could become reality relatively soon — perhaps within the next five to 10 years. As illustrated in a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a new, RNA-based vaccine strategy could be effective against any viral strain to emerge in the future. This next generation of vaccines would theoretically offer protection against viruses we aren’t even aware of yet, and could be used safely on infants and people with compromised immune systems, who today must often opt out of vaccination to protect their health. (more) https://www.salon.com/2024/04/18/a-one-shot-vaccine-for-covid-flu-and-future-viruses-researchers-say-its-coming/ https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2024/04/15/vaccine-breakthrough-means-no-more-chasing-strains

When looking at the drop-off in British tourism to Thailand, another unmentioned factor could be.... ...the dubious Go Fund Me appeals for British tourists who travel here and get injured without having any medical travel insurance may not be paying off as much as they used to.... 🙂

I'm pretty sure Thai Immigration still keeps track of that kind of data, and could produce it if A] they wanted to, or B] someone in authority directed them to. But then, of course, there's the added question of actually making it public. For all we know, the Immigration commander may get a report on his desk every month recapping those kinds of stats.... But for whatever reason, Immigration at some point decided they no longer needed or wanted to share that data with the public on a regular basis.