TallGuyJohninBKK

Looks like the WHO disagrees with you: From the WHO as of March 30, 2023: "while SARS-CoV-2 may be moving towards becoming an endemic disease that can be managed through routine systems without significant ongoing PHSM [Public health and social measures], that time has not yet arrived. As long as there is widespread transmission, which there currently is, there is a high risk of the emergence of additional variants, which have the potential to be more severe and thus require the reintroduction of significant PHSM. Further, with every new case of SARS-CoV-2 infection, there is a potential for the person to develop post-COVID-19 condition (also known as ‘long COVID’)." etc etc... https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/1495640/retrieve

When exactly did that happen, and "considered" by who exactly? You? I must have missed the memo telling me that 23,000 official COVID deaths per month in the world, and the real figure likely being higher, is nothing to be concerned about.

Thailand's government is probably giving LESS attention to COVID as an issue than other places like the U.S. and the U.K., and certainly far behind in widely offering the newest bivalent COVID vaccines. It's just that COVID denyers here on this forum get agitated and offended anytime they see a news report or thread on a subject that they really don't want to see... Unfortunately, sticking your head in the sand isn't going to stop COVID deaths and illnesses from occurring.

Which is clearly a false claim, as prior post responses to your claims have shown. And once again, as usual, you provide absolutely no credible sourcing to support your claim. Similar symptoms... to some extents yes. No more dangerous, definitely wrong.

1. the current variants are still variations of the earlier Omicron variants that the bivalent vaccines were developed for, so there's still relevance, and better relevance than the original, pre-Omicron COVID vaccines. 2. the key governments and vaccine makers are already planning for yet a newer version of COVID vaccines to be rolled out later this year based on the more currently circulating COVID variants. It's going to end up being much like the annual flu vaccine, where a new, updated version of the COVID vaccine is developed each year based on wherever the COVID virus ends up heading. How and whether Thailand will participate in that upcoming cycle of new, updated COVID vaccines remains an unknown at this point, as they have tended to follow far behind places like the U.S. and U.K. in terms of COVID vaccine deployments. Because everything COVID vaccine related right now for Thailand is a paid for import.... not something they themselves have developed and can economize on.

Except for the 23,000 or so people around the world who are dying from COVID every month at this point, according to the WHO. "Globally, 3 million new cases and over 23 000 deaths were reported in the last 28 days (13 March to 9 April 2023), a decrease of 28% and 30%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days (13 February to 12 March2023) (Figure 1, Table 1). Contrary to the overall trend, important increases in reported cases and deaths were seen in the South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean regions and in several individual countries elsewhere." AND "Current trends in reported COVID-19 cases continue to be underestimates of the true number of global infections and reinfections as shown by prevalence surveys.1-4 This is partly due to the reductions in testing and delays in reporting in many countries." https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20230413_weekly_epi_update_138.pdf?sfvrsn=2f5d54c6_8&download=true Thailand is a good example of the above. Doesn't even count or publicly report just COVID infections /positive tests anymore. Only reports COVID hospitalizations, which are what the various counting entities now count as their "cases." Not to mention, previously having adopted a very narrow definition of what the Thai MoPH will consider a death caused by COVID.

Yes... the COVID mortality percentages these days are very small... in part because of vaccinations and prior COVID infections among the population. But even very small percentages become significant numbers of deaths when you get to the country levels.... such as the close to 200 people per day dying from COVID in the U.S. A tiny percentage compared to the U.S. population. But not so tiny if you or your family are involved in one of those hundreds of daily COVID deaths. And then there are the thousands of daily new COVID hospitalizations in the U.S. that don't result in deaths, and the toll of Long COVID that leaves people with long-lasting symptoms that leave them unable to work, etc etc. Despite what some claim, it's an ongoing public health issue around the world.

Over time, I'm pretty sure mere AGE is the number one risk factor for bad COVID outcomes... age itself of course not being a so-called comorbidity / medical condition/illness... And the reality is, none of use can do anything to turn back the clock of advancing age.

So what's your point of raising the issue then? Everyone knows what the various risk factors are. The typical reason people post as you did is to essentially imply that those people are at some point going to die anyway... so let's not really blame COVID. The reality is, in cases counted as COVID deaths, they're dying either directly from COVID or with COVID as a contributing factor... Either way, it's due to COVID causing or hastening the deaths -- no matter what their comorbidities may be.

So you think both the road deaths and COVID hospitalizations are no big deal? I certainly don't think that.....in either category.

So in your view, overweight people who die from COVID deserve it, because they became oveweight? Last time I saw, the majority of the U.S. population is classified as overweight/obese. "Roughly two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese (69 percent) and one out of three are obese (36 percent)." https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-trends-original/obesity-rates-worldwide/ PS - Obesity is only ONE of the various risk factors for bad COVID outcomes... Advanced age alone is probably the largest single factor, and then add in all the other comorbidities such as overweight, diabetes, heart disease, respiratory problems, etc etc. Seems like you're willing to write off quite a large percentage of the population, based on one risk factor or another.

Interesting report in another thread.... The Thai government for months now has no longer publicly reported mere COVID cases...and instead only publicly reports COVID hospitalizations, which obviously are much lower stats than general cases.... But now we have this (again, COVID cases, not hospitalizations): Temporary Covid-19 surge may result in 10,000 daily cases A new wave of Covid-19 infections is expected to bring daily cases to 5,000-10,000, but a swift decline in numbers is predicted thereafter, according to Dr Nitipatana Chierakul, Head of the Respiratory Disease and Tuberculosis Division at the Faculty of Medicine in Siriraj Hospital. In a statement on his Facebook page, Dr Nitipatana noted a rise in infections caused by the Omicron XBB.1.16 sub-variant but highlighted the majority of cases were mild. He explained that severe reactions were likely due to pre-existing health conditions. He said… “During the new wave, daily cases are estimated at 5,000-10,000 patients, which is relatively low compared to last year. It is anticipated that cases will reduce within a few weeks.” https://thethaiger.com/news/national/temporary-surge-may-result-in-10000-daily-cases-for-a-brief-period

Unless your Dad is a former top Thai Army official.

And elsewhere in the world -- the below report seems to reflect a lot of COVID denying/deflecting posters here: Covid is still a leading cause of death as the virus recedes Millions of Americans gathered maskless in homes and houses of worship this month for Passover, Easter and Ramadan — the latest evidence that coronavirus has retreated from public view as the pandemic winds down. But retreat is not the same thing as eradication: Federal health officials say that covid-19 remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States, tied to about 250 deaths daily, on average, mostly among the old and immunocompromised. Few Americans are treating it as a leading killer, however — in part because they are not hearing about those numbers, don’t trust them or don’t see them as relevant to their own lives. (more) https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/04/16/covid-deaths-per-day/

You guys really need to do a bit more reading: "Department director-general Tharet Krutnairawiwong said 435 patients were admitted to hospital for treatment of Covid-19 between April 9 and 15, about 62 cases per day. Of the number, 30 had lung inflammation and 19 were put on ventilators, up 58% and 36% respectively, from the previous week." COVID hospitalizations last week were up 250% / 2-1/2 times over what they were the prior week, and now are at their highest level since January. The Thai MoPH is saying "no cause for concern" because they believe, probably correctly, that they have enough hospital bed capacity to treat the COVID patients who are going to end up being hospitalized. Speaking for myself, as an age 60+ person, I'd rather do my best to AVOID ending up hospitalized from COVID in the first place.

Then maybe you should stop posting derogatory comments about "the medical profession," which typically means doctors, nurses and associated professionals. If you want to criticize the pharma industry, then criticize what it is.... the pharma industry.

Or perhaps they're actually interested in trying to protect their health at a time when COVID is spreading and increasing in Thailand, and not risking spreading COVID to others around them.

People can and do die from Omicron associated pneumonia. Study from a South Korea hospital. Comparison of the causes of death associated with delta and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants infection "During the Omicron-dominant period, 42 (6%) of 654 patients with COVID-19 were admitted died (Supplemental Figure 1). The primary cause of death was COVID-19–associated pneumonia in both the Omicron (64%, 27/42) and Delta (88%, 37/42) eras " https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9710103/

And again, you provide absolutely no credible sources to substantiate what you're claiming. COVID, even Omicron, is NOT the same as or comparable to the flu in terms of severity. Omicron hospital illness 54% deadlier than flu hospital cases, study finds https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/omicron-hospital-illness-54-deadlier-flu-hospital-cases-study-finds COVID Omicron variant infection deadlier than flu, studies suggest https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-omicron-variant-infection-deadlier-flu-studies-suggest

Here on this forum, as reported by the Thai Min of Health. "Department director-general Tharet Krutnairawiwong said 435 patients were admitted to hospital for treatment of Covid-19 between April 9 and 15, about 62 cases per day. Of the number, 30 had lung inflammation and 19 were put on ventilators, up 58% and 36% respectively, from the previous week." Those COVID hospitalization numbers from last week are more than double those from the week before, and the highest for Thailand since late January of this year.

65 and over is a more accurate threshold for where the health risks from COVID begin to get much worse. And then the odds of bad outcomes obviously get even worse as you get older from there.

Rubbish.... doctors and nurses around the world died from COVID often because they were trying to keep their COVID patients alive during a worldwide pandemic. Not because they were in it to make a buck. Health and Care Worker Deaths during COVID-19 WHO estimates that between 80 000 and 180 000 health and care workers could have died from COVID-19 in the period between January 2020 to May 2021, converging to a medium scenario of 115 500 deaths1. https://www.who.int/news/item/20-10-2021-health-and-care-worker-deaths-during-covid-19

As of last week, an average of 60+ people per day were being hospitalized in Thailand for COVID, and some of those sick enough to require intubation because they cannot otherwise breathe. You seem to have a very odd definition of "no real threat anymore."

"The new estimates by WHO/Europe and presented at the conference by Dr Margaux Meslé, Epidemiologist at WHO/Europe highlight the striking impact of COVID-19 vaccine programmes and also underscore the urgent need for countries with low vaccination coverage to fully vaccinate their older adults. Since the emergence and subsequent spread of SARS-CoV-2 in early 2020, over 2 million COVID-19 laboratory-confirmed deaths have been officially recorded by WHO/Europe. ... “We see from our research, the large numbers of lives saved by COVID-19 vaccines across Europe during the pandemic. However, too many people in vulnerable groups across the WHO European Region remain unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. We urge people who are eligible and who have not yet taken the vaccine to do so," says Dr Richard Pebody, Head of the High Threat Pathogen Team at WHO/Europe." https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/986127

"COVID-19 vaccination directly saved at least 1,004,927 lives across Europe from December 2020 to March 2023, according to new research presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) annual meeting this week in Copenhagen, Denmark. The study was based on weekly reported deaths and vaccination doses from 26 countries in Europe collected by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. ... Overall, 96% of lives saved were in people ages 60 and older, with the first booster vaccine dose calculated to have saved 64% of the total lives saved in Europe during the first 3 years of the pandemic. Vaccination was most impactful during the Omicron wave of the pandemic, with an estimated 568,064 deaths averted. (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-vaccines-saved-least-1-million-lives-europe-experts-estimate