TallGuyJohninBKK

""It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that the end of the emergency did not mean COVID was over as a global health threat. ... The WHO does not declare the beginning or end of pandemics, although it did start using the term for COVID in March 2020. ... COVID will continue to challenge health systems worldwide long term, including long COVID, infectious disease experts say. "No one should take (this) to mean COVID-19 is no longer a problem," said Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh." https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/covid-is-no-longer-global-health-emergency-who-2023-05-05/

"Nearly seven million deaths from COVID-19 have been reported to WHO, Tedros said. More than 1 million of the deaths were in the United States alone. But Tedros emphasized that "we know the [death] total is several times higher, at least 20 million." https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/05/05/1174269442/who-ends-global-health-emergency-declaration-for-covid-19

"The U.N. health agency’s officials said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn’t finished, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. WHO says thousands of people are still dying from the virus every week, and millions of others are suffering from debilitating, long-term effects. ... WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said ... “That does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat,” he said, warning that new variants could yet emerge. Source link

'It’s still killing and it’s still changing.' Ending COVID-19 states of emergency sparks debate Moves by WHO and U.S. usher pandemic into new phase of disease monitoring, even as coronavirus kills thousands weekly ... "Gregg Gonsalves, a public health expert at the Yale School of Public Health, says ... Regardless of whether it is called a PHEIC, COVID-19 continues to cause death and suffering across the globe, he says.... “We’re willing to bake in a huge amount of morbidity and mortality to get back to normal [and] it doesn’t bode well for facing our future.” https://www.science.org/content/article/who-ends-pandemic-emergency-covid-19-deaths-fall

US Covid deaths are still running about 1100 per week. And just a few days ago, the CDC reported that COVID still ranked as the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. during 2022.

Let's wait and see what Thailand's upcoming weekly COVID hospitalizations and deaths statistics are when released in a few days. Last week showed a 10-fold increase in COVID hospitalizations compared to the start of April, and a fifth consecutive week of rising COVID hospitalizations.

Worth reading and hearing Tedros' entire message re COVID: "Tedros emphasized that this declaration does not mean COVID-19 is no longer a threat. “The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that COVID-19 is nothing to worry about,” he said. ... "A few thousand deaths are still being reported to the agency every week, and some models estimate that excess mortality is still at about 10,000 deaths a day worldwide." https://www.science.org/content/article/who-ends-pandemic-emergency-covid-19-deaths-fall And as the above article notes, in the U.S., about 1,100 mostly older people are still dying of COVID-19 every week, though the good news is, that's at a rate that's the lowest since the start of the pandemic.

The CDC's rankings for causes of death only use the narrower definition where a particular cause of death is found to be the "underlying cause." Those don't count the added cases where COVID or other factors were instead considered a "contributing cause". When counting the death causes listed as "underlying" (meaning primary), the rankings for 2022, as shown in the chart above, were the following: Heart disease -- 699,659 Cancer -- 607,790 Unintentional Injury -- 218,064 COVID -- 186,702 That meant COVID, ranked fourth, was the underlying (primary) cause of about 5.7 percent of ranked deaths for 2022, down from 12 percent or 416,893 underlying cause COVID deaths in 2021. However, the CDC also listed what it called "COVID-19 associated" deaths, which combine the underlying and contributing cause categories. By that measure, the U.S. had 244,986 COVID associated deaths in 2022, down 47% from 2021's figure of 462,193. The COVID associated deaths tally for 2022 accounted for 7.5 percent of the U.S.'s nearly 3.3 million total deaths. The CDC said the final death causes tally for 2022 will be released toward the end of this year. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7218a3.htm

"The spread of COVID-19 has been slowing, but the virus still remained one of the leading causes of death for Americans in 2022, falling from third place to fourth place last year. Among nearly 3.3 million fatalities reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics in 2022, COVID-19 was the underlying cause listed on 186,702 death certificates, substantially down from 416,893 in 2021. That means the virus now ranks behind heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries — a category largely driven by drug overdoses — which each caused the loss of more lives last year." (more) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-fell-fourth-leading-cause-of-death-cdc/ https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7218a3.htm

Is the RTP SO overloaded with useless brass that they have police Lt. Generals leading raids aimed at catching (but failing to do so) single expat alleged tax evaders? And who was out the ignoring drunk drivers while all these Thai police brass were scouring the German guy's condo? Wouldn't a team led by a police captain or colonel sufficed?

Sometimes "indefinitely" ends up being a lot shorter than people expect, especially when they ignore common sense public health protection measures. From the Thai MoPH in the past few days, via Google Translate: "Dr. Tares Krassanirawiwong, M.D. The Director-General of the Department of Disease Control mentioned the case of a 34-year-old Burmese man who died in a room in Sathorn District, Bangkok and ATK examination found COVID-19 on April 17, 2023. The results of the investigation showed that The deceased worked as a factory worker in Bangkok, had never received the COVID-19 vaccine before, and had no history of receiving COVID-19 treatment before his death. Songkran Festival The deceased played Songkran water with friends. And started to have a fever, red eyes, buy medicine and take it yourself, but stay in the room. Did not receive treatment at a hospital until someone found him dead in the room Computed tomography (CT scan) of the corpse by Chulalongkorn Hospital. compatible with severe pneumonia As for the results of the laboratory tests of the Department of Medical Sciences, it was found that the COVID-19 strain Omicron XBB.1.16.1" https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/posts/pfbid07esigpoWz7ozMdMp8WFokfyaysYU6n4fWWWBGKp7wU31JaF3YNEhmSdLp492dk8Bl

And another BKK location: "People who carry high risk of developing severe symptoms after contracting the new coronavirus, namely seniors over 60 years of age, pregnant women, and patients with chronic diseases, are invited to get a free booster shot of the Covid-19 vaccine at Public Health Service Center 6 (Women’s Culture Association Building) in Dusit district." ... People who have never received the Covid-19 vaccine before can get a free shot at 69 public health service centres in Bangkok every Wednesday from 9am to 3pm (except public holidays). Although pre-registration is not required, people are advised to book their shot via QueQ application to reduce waiting time." https://pr-bangkok.com/?p=113544 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=628057979357140&set=a.306407308188877

Even if it means people getting sick and dying from COVID? I'd hope, speaking personally, that people would tailor their social behaviors to the public health situation that's occurring around them... either good or bad. Still much lower COVID case counts right now than in 2021 and 2022. But a definite resurgence this year as we moved into the spring. Malaysia reported COVID cases since the start of the year: Source link: Philippines reported COVID cases since the start of the year: Source link: PS - the Bloomberg news report linked above on rising COVID cases in Malaysia and the Philippines is a headline in today's Bangkok Post as well.

And the Philippines: DOH orders hospitals to reopen COVID-19 wards ... "The latest COVID-19 data from the DOH showed that the daily case average grew by 42 percent last week at 632 infections per day nationwide. “All areas are on an uptrend, with NCR (National Capital Region) exhibiting the steepest increase,” the health department said in its latest report." https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1764541/doh-orders-hospitals-to-reopen-covid-19-wards

And more news for the day... Not just Thailand, but elsewhere in SE Asia now as well... Covid Rise Tests Malaysia Hospitals as Philippines Reopens Wards "Rising Covid cases are threatening to overstrain Malaysia’s crowded hospitals and the Philippines reopened its coronavirus treatment wards amid a surge in Southeast Asia, underscoring the need for governments to adjust to the disease’s ebb and flow in a world now living with the virus." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-04/covid-rise-tests-malaysia-hospitals-as-philippines-reopens-wards#xj4y7vzkg Malaysia faces new Covid-19 wave as more get hospitalised On April 22, data showed that beds in intensive care units are 67 per cent occupied, and several private hospitals were full. "KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia is facing a fresh wave of Covid-19 cases that has seen test kits being snapped up, more people being hospitalised, and experts advising the public to avoid crowded places. ... Health Ministry data showed that cases inched up 0.6 per cent to 9,780, and hospitalisations rose by 9.2 per cent to 3,381 in the 14 days to April 29. Daily confirmed cases on April 29 totalled 1,050. Deaths attributable to Covid-19 have risen by 25 per cent." https://asianews.network/malaysia-faces-new-covid-19-wave-as-more-get-hospitalised/

Perhaps you don't understand the concept of NEWS... a central element of which is NEW..... If something has been running at 1000 per month year after year, that doesn't make news so much, because it's just the same thing ongoing. But if something suddenly shoots up from 100 to 1000 per month, that tends to make more NEWS, because it's NEW. That's the way the NEWS business works, whether for COVID or anything else. But, since you mentioned it, FWIW, COVID since the start of the pandemic has killed far more people in the U.S. -- where they keep and make public good stats on such things -- than influenza has.. It's not even a close comparison. "Over the past 12 years, the flu’s estimated annual death toll has been as low as 12,000, but never higher than 61,000—just an eighth of COVID’s death toll in the first year of the pandemic. Since the earliest days of the pandemic, weekly COVID deaths have been at least 15 times that of weekly flu deaths—and sometimes as much as 811 times." https://fortune.com/well/2022/09/27/why-covid-isnt-like-the-flu-death-toll-leading-cause-death-omicron-shot-booster-vaccine/

"Deputy Bangkok Governor Thavida Kamolvech reported on Wednesday that the city has recently witnessed an average of 1,000 daily Covid infections, 10 times the daily average recorded in late March. As the new school term is set to begin around mid-month, there is a risk of Covid caseloads increasing even further, Kamolvech warned." https://thethaiger.com/news/national/nhso-seeks-funds-for-additional-flu-vaccine-doses-amid-rising-covid-19-cases Hard to know when this EN news source translates info from the original Thai, whether the deputy governor here is actually counting and reporting mere COVID infections (which the TH government doesn't publicly tally or report anymore), or COVID hospitalizations (which is what they currently count as "cases.") The last weekly report from the Ministry of Public Health said Bangkok province had 525 new COVID hospitalizations from last week. ,

Another one for Bangkok, first I've heard/seen of this location: "The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is offering free Covid booster shots at the ICS Lifestyle Complex opposite the Iconsiam shopping centre." https://thethaiger.com/news/national/nhso-seeks-funds-for-additional-flu-vaccine-doses-amid-rising-covid-19-cases So you can add the above location to the previously announced vaccination center activities at CentralWorld and MBK.... Now if only BMA would compile and publish a list of all of their current COVID vaccination sites in English, which they seem unable to do.

MoPH has a website that shows the weekly new COVID hospitalizations by province... But it's all in TH language, so you need to be able to navigate that. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=province I did a post previously here that translated and listed various of the top handful of provinces by hospitalization count for the most recent week, along with some lesser ones with a lot of expats. Bangkok -- 525 Chonburi -- 148 Nonthaburi -- 112 Lamphun -- 100 Surat Thani -- 99 Khon Kaen -- 66 Pathum Thani -- 50 Prachuap Khiri Khan -- 42 Chiang Mai -- 2 Phuket -- 1 https://aseannow.com/topic/1293588-new-covid-hospitalizations-continue-their-sharp-rise-for-fifth-consecutive-week/?do=findComment&comment=18054005

If Thailand road crash or liver disease hospitalizations had increased TEN-fold in one month as COVID hospitalizations have here, then those issues would be making headlines as well. No matter how you try to spin it otherwise, we're talking about COVID more now because COVID hospitalizations in Thailand went from 168 for the first week of April to 1,811 last week -- now the highest level of the year. COVID doesn't need a marketing department when those kinds of hospitalization stats are occurring here, because more and more people have been getting sick from COVID and ending up in the hospital. You didn't see daily headlines on COVID earlier this year when weekly COVID hospitalizations in Thailand were bumping along at under 200 per week. Under 200 per week isn't big news. But suddenly increasing to nearly 2,000 per week is.

Exposure to bad air pollution has been shown to be a risk factor for bad outcomes with COVID cases, like various other factors. That's true. But air pollution doesn't CAUSE COVID infections. COVID does.

They're only counting / publicly reporting COVID hospitalizations, not just COVID infections. One doctor here recently estimated that COVID infections in Thailand could be running 13,000 to 18,000 per week. "Dr. Thira Woratanarat, a doctor at the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University, said that the actual number of infections between 23rd and 29th of April may, however, actually be between 12,936 and 17,967, when allowing for the many cases which go unreported and do not seek treatment at hospitals." https://www.thaipbsworld.com/covid-19-infections-on-the-rise-with-1811-cases-and-10-deaths-last-week/ And every time a new person becomes infected, that then creates a new opportunity to spread the virus to everyone they come into relatively close contact with while infected.

The list of charged or convicted officialdom criminals who have fled Thailand to either avoid trial or avoid prison after convictions is long and illustrious... The Red Bull guy is by no means the only high profile type to have done a runner here. Of course, you can also count the former PM Thaksins among that list.

Of course they do...including in Bangkok... How well they function is a matter for some debate. But it doesn't much matter, because where the bigger problems occur is with all the often old and leaky water lines running under the city that ultimately connect to buildings that, as noted above, often rely on old and often dirty water storage tanks, that then deliver the water thru often old and dirty lines within buildings. Lots of opportunities for contamination on the long path from the water treatment plant to the end user. At least the major brand 1.5 liter bottled waters are directly treated via reverse osmosis, UV and other means prior to bottling, where they remain clean and secure until use.

No, it's COVID hospitalizations in Thailand are surging again, up 10-fold in the past month to an average of 258 new COVID hospitalizations per day.... That's why you're seeing multiple news reports on the subject lately... If crimes or traffic accidents increased 10-fold in a month, you'd be reading about those increases too. April 2-8, 2023 April 23-29, 2023 https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos