TallGuyJohninBKK

You have no basis and no source for asserting above that all the cases the Thai authorities report as "COVID hospitalizations" are just hospitalizations "with COVID". In current times, Thai hospitals aren't automatically COVID testing everyone who comes thru their doors. They're only COVID testing people, and finding actual cases, who present with symptoms that are characteristic of COVID. But even if what you claim were true, which it clearly isn't, a reasonable person would certainly have to wonder why the numbers of those COVID hospitalization cases have suddenly quadrupled over the past almost two months.

There's a big difference between "fear" and knowledge and awareness... I have no "fear" about COVID. But I certainly think knowledge and awareness of the facts of what's occurring in the world with COVID can and should help inform people's decisions and behaviors. But it's a typical COVID denialist and anti-vaxer ploy to wrongly try to portray knowledge and information as fear.

If nothing else, all of the above should serve as a reminder to everyone that denialists notwithstanding, COVID is continuing to circulate widely in the world and in Thailand... sickening many people still, especially the older populations, and fortunately killing some but fewer than in recent years. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7218a3.htm

In the U.S. right now, more than 1,100 people per week are dying with COVID as the main or contributing cause, along with nearly 20,000 new weekly COVID hospitalizations. In a country of about 330 million people, that tally of weekly COVID deaths amounts to 0.000003% of the population. Does that mean we should be unconcerned with the 1,100+ weekly COVID deaths and nearly 20,000 new weekly COVID hospitalizations? I wouldn't say that. Lives have value, period. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00 https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklyhospitaladmissions_select_00

There is some sharing of bank account details between the Thai government / banking system and other countries like the U.S. But I have no reason to think that currently extends to the details of ATM withdrawals made in Thailand using foreign debit cards, which are not part of the inter-country bank account info sharing that currently occurs. Also, when it comes to Thai bank ATM transactions occurring with foreign bank cards, those are mainly handled by the international card networks like VISA and MC, and not by the local Thai banks themselves. So it's not clear to me just how much, if any, detailed info the Thai banks keep on those kinds of transactions. And I think it unlikely the Thai banks have any ready ability, on a national scale, to trace particular foreign debit card transactions here back to individual bank account numbers in foreign countries. Especially since debit card numbers always are different that the actual bank account numbers they're linked to. International wire transfers, on the other hand, would be an entirely different matter, as the recipient Thai bank obviously would directly receive and know the sending bank account details for where the transaction originated.

By way of extension to the mindset of some posters here: "The US has been living in a "fantasy world" where people pretend COVID-19 is "not relevant," Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response Task Force coordinator during the Trump administration, told ABC's "Start Here" podcast. "We wanted to make it like flu because that was easier, but it's never going to be like flu," Birx said, explaining that COVID-19 comes in more frequent waves, makes people sicker, kills more people and can have longer-term complications such as long COVID. "So let's just all agree it's not flu. It will never be flu." https://abc7chicago.com/covid-cases-2023-cdc-immunity-testing/13738857/

ya, it's just 500+ people per week now being hospitalized involving COVID in Thailand. No reason anyone should care about that.... And FWIW, people even in Thailand typically are not hospitalized (admitted as inpatients) for having "colds." And COVID is not a "cold" or even the flu. SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant more common, tied to more severe outcomes than flu, RSV October 28, 2023 "SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infections were more common and linked to more severe outcomes than influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in emergency department (ED) patients in Sweden, especially among those unvaccinated against COVID-19. ... Karolinska Institutet researchers assessed rates of 30-day all-cause death, hospitalization, and intensive care unit (ICU) admission of adults seen in six EDs in Stockholm County for Omicron, flu, or RSV infection ... Thirty-day death rates were 7.9% in the Omicron group, 2.5% in flu patients, and 6.0% in the RSV group." https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/sars-cov-2-omicron-variant-more-common-tied-more-severe-outcomes-flu-rsv

A more even-handed assessment of the situation recently appeared as a news report in the New York Times, as follows: A U.S.-Iranian Miscalculation Could Lead to a Larger War, Officials Say U.S. forces and militias backed by Iran have launched tit-for-tat attacks, fueling concerns as Israeli forces have also clashed with Iranian-backed groups. Nov. 29, 2023 "Neither Washington nor Tehran wants the conflict in the Gaza Strip to trigger a wider war in the region, officials in both capitals say. But in the seven weeks since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Iranian-backed militias have launched more than 70 rocket and drone attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon, for its part, has responded with four rounds of airstrikes, killing as many as 15 people, U.S. officials say. (more) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/us/politics/israel-iran-gaza-us-attacks.html

The OP here should have been labeled in the forum for what it is... an OPINION piece instead of a NEWS report. And one authored by a professor affiliated with the libertarian Cato Institute. "Jordan Cohen is a policy analyst in Defense and Foreign Policy at the Cato Institute" "Cato advocates for a limited governmental role in domestic and foreign affairs..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Institute

Thailand's new weekly COVID hospitalizations have quietly quadrupled since early October, now having increased steadily for six of the past seven weeks, according to the latest update today from the Thai Ministry of Public Health. Although local Thai news media have basically ceased reporting on local COVID trends, the weekly COVID reports posted by the MoPH to its website show that new COVID hospitalizations reached 536 for the most recent week (Nov. 26 to Dec. 2), up from a recent low of just 124 for the week of Oct. 8-14. The most recent 536 new weekly COVID hospitalizations is Thailand's highest tally in the past 4-1/2 months, since the country reported 556 new COVID hospitalizations for the week of July 16-22. The current spike in new COVID hospitalizations is Thailand's second of 2023, but thus far remains far below the earlier spike that began after Song Kran in April. From mid-April through early June, Thailand's new weekly COVID hospitalizations rose steadily and ultimately peaked at 3,085 for the week May 28 to June 3. After that, the weekly numbers mostly steadily declined until the trend again rebounded starting in early October. Starting with the week of Oct. 8-14, Thailand's successive weekly new COVID hospitalizations have tallied at 124, 191, 206, 304, 287 (the only weekly decline in the recent period), 390, 480 and finally 536 for the most recent week. During the same period since mid-October, the MoPH reports also show that the tallies of COVID hospitalized patients considered in serious condition have more than doubled, from 38 in the mid-October period up to 88 for the most recent week. The apparent good news in all this is that officially declared COVID deaths, if the data is presumed accurate, have remained low and flat during the entire mid October to early December period, starting out at 3 per week at the start of that period and ending up at 3 for the most recently reported week. Thailand stopped publicly reporting COVID infection/case data last fall, as have many countries, so tallies of COVID new hospitalizations have become one of the key indicators that public health officials these days use to monitor the successive up and down waves of COVID infections. The Thai MoPH posts its weekly COVID reports mostly every Monday at the following website: https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main A pull-down menu in the upper right corner of the website provides access to all of the MoPH's weekly COVID reports since the start of the year. The red-colored sections show the new COVID hospitalizations counts for that week and the cumulative number thus far for the year. The gray colored sections show the new officially declared COVID deaths for that week and the cumulative number for the year. The dark purple colored sections show the current number of serious condition COVID patients hospitalized for that week. According to the latest weekly report, Thailand thus far has had 36,204 COVID hospitalizations thus far this year and 826 officially declared COVID deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, the MoPH has reported a cumulative total of 4.75 million COVID hospitalizations and 34,495 officially declared COVID deaths.

Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for Nov. 26 - Dec. 2: --536 new COVID hospitalizations, up 56 from the prior week --3 new COVID deaths, up from 1 the prior week --88 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition, up 6 from the prior week --45 COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation to breathe, down 5 from the prior week https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

Q: How long can a US citizen stay in Vietnam? A: US passport are allowed to hold 1 year multiple [entry] tourist visa, but the maximum stay allowed is 90 days in one visit. It means that you can't stay in Vietnam for more than 3 months at a time, and have to leave the country and return for another 3 months of stay. https://vietnamvisavoa.com/vietnam-visa-for-us-citizens-a924

Anytime you're an expat anywhere, there's always the risk that the local government might change its immigration rules at some point. However, Thailand having a relatively established history of offering in-country renewable annual retirement extensions (though they have monkeyed with the financials some) is a nice feature that I wish more other countries would offer. As I'm not a particular fan of being forced to travel internationally each year or more often just to satisfy a visa/immigration requirement.

No, that lifestyle would not be for me... But, it seems to work OK for others, and I have seen first-hand reports of Americans now making their homes in Vietnam relying on those kinds of rinse and repeat visas.... just as many used to do here in Thailand.

FWIW.... "Penang is unique among Malaysian states in that no single religion commands an absolute majority among the populace." "In addition, Penang is home to a sizeable expatriate population, especially from Singapore, Japan and various Asian countries, as well as other Commonwealth nations. Over 8% of Penang's population consisted of foreigners, reflecting the well-established allure of Penang amongst expatriates.[157" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang

I thought Vietnam recently had launched, for Americans, repeatable 90-day tourist visas... supposedly easily obtained, but it seems as though holders still have to exit the country every 90 days regardless.

I've never been to Penang... But I had gotten the impression that it is more Indo-Euro-Asian international than Muslim per se... unlike Malaysia at large?

...

Presumably, that's what the website meant when they referred to Portugal residency leading to "EU citizenship".

"Between 1959 and 2016, US life expectancy increased by almost 10 years, from 69.9 years in 1959 to 78.9 years in 2016, with the fastest increase (highest APC) occurring during 1969–1979 (APC=0.48, p < 0.01) (Figure 1). Life expectancy began to advance more slowly in the 1980s and plateaued in 2011 ... The NCHS reported that US life expectancy peaked (78.9 years) in 2014 and subsequently decreased significantly for three consecutive years, reaching 78.6 years in 2017.2,9 ... "By 2014, midlife mortality was increasing across all racial groups, caused by drug overdoses, alcohol abuse, suicides, and a diverse list of organ system diseases." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7146991/ And then COVID starting in 2020 dropped U.S. life expectancy rates off a cliff, as shown above. As the above quoted PBS report notes, the current U.S. life expectancy rate (even with the latest rebound for 2022) is back to what it was 20 years ago.

Of course, Paxton was only acquitted by fellow Republican state Senators in Texas in an impeachment case that the state House members from both parties originally had brought against him. To convict him would have required a two-thirds Senate vote in the Republican-controlled state Senate, which didn't happen. All the other pending legal actions against Paxton remain. Kinda similar to how U.S. Senate Republicans, by blocking the required two-third majority votes, acquitted fellow Republican Donald Trump in his two impeachment proceedings. But what then ensued thereafter was the filing of 91 felony counts in four separate now-pending criminal cases. ----------------------------------------------- "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was impeached on May 27, becoming the state's first statewide official to be impeached since 1917." ... "The impeachment also underlines the conflict between Paxton and a number of other Republicans, many of whom voted in the state House for his impeachment." ...the House voted to impeach Paxton in a bipartisan 121-23 majority vote." https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/texas-ag-ken-paxton-impeached-controversy/story?id=99826087 Even a lot of his fellow Republican lawmakers in the Republican controlled House considered him guilty and wanted him out.

Yup... from the full Wash Po report that went beyond the excerpt above: "The rise in certain chronic diseases in the United States — and slower progress in combating others — put the nation in a vulnerable position when the novel virus arrived. A scattered and politically polarized response to the pandemic played a role in the dire death toll that followed, as did resistance to vaccination and other public health measures. No other wealthy country experienced so high a rate of death per capita from covid." AND " In articles this year, The Washington Post has explored the many reasons this country lags peer nations in life expectancy, and a major finding is that chronic conditions such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer play an underappreciated role in suppressing life spans." https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/11/29/life-expectancy-2022-united-states/

And for the Europhiles amongst us, the OP's entry on Portugal, in a separate listing, has the following add-on: "You can get a retirement visa with €760 in monthly retirement or pension income, which is equivalent to approximately $830. After five years, you can convert your residency for EU citizenship and enjoy easy travel across Europe." https://expatsi.com/communities/retirees/10-countries-where-you-can-retire-with-2000-month/

Jing, I was intrigued by how many of the different location entries on their list have a phrase in the description similar to the following: "You can get a retirement visa in XXXXXXX if you have [$800 to $1,500+] /month in retirement income." If their info is accurate, I didn't realize there were so many countries with reasonably affordable retirement visas... Such as: --Bulgaria if you have about $800/month in retirement income. --Portugal if you have about $800/month in retirement income. --Costa Rica if you have $1,000/month in retirement income. --Panama if you have $1,000/month in retirement income --Indonesia if you have about $1,500/month in retirement income.

Rise in U.S. life expectancy is ‘good news,’ but gains aren’t enough to wipe out COVID losses "Life expectancy in the United States rose in 2022, the first increase since the COVID pandemic began, according to new federal data. But those gains were not enough to compensate for the years of life lost to the virus, which remains one of the nation’s top causes of death. ... But COVID is still the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., Arias said. And these gains weren’t enough to overcome the backslide in life expectancy – 2.4 years — since 2020 and the start of the pandemic. These latest estimates offer a stark reminder of how much further the nation must go to recover from that crater of loss: Life expectancy is now “what it was 20 years ago,” Arias said." (more) https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/rise-in-u-s-life-expectancy-is-good-news-but-gains-arent-enough-to-wipe-out-covid-losses