TallGuyJohninBKK

The so-called "mild" Omicron variant right now has a year-high 1,496 COVID cases in serious condition in Thai hospitals with pneumonia type symptoms. And another year-high 562 COVID cases hospitalized who are requiring intubation in order to breathe. And those numbers have been steadily rising day-by-day for weeks now. It's also killing 80+ people per day in Thailand, which is considerably higher than the average of daily road deaths. Not to mention, Omicron also is giving a beating to places in Asia such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia, among others... See the chart info below: A recent comparison on per capita COVID case and death rates country to country including Thailand and various others in Asia: (yesterday's update from the Thai MoPH) COVID deaths in the past week per million population: Hong Kong -- 242 (1,840 dead in the past week) South Korea -- 42 (2,162 dead in the past week) Malaysia -- 17 (564 dead in the past week) Thailand -- 8 (556 dead in the past week) Japan -- 8 (965 dead in the past week) Vietnam - 5 (472 dead in the past week) https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106455480972785/526877065597289/?type=3

Booster shots are available on a walk-in basis at the Bang Sue Central Vaccination Center in Bangkok without the need for any pre-registration or appointment. And, just today, the government announced they were shortening the waiting time for 3rd dose booster shots to only 90 days after the second dose, and offered 4th shot booster doses 120 days later to people who had two original AstraZeneca doses followed by a 3rd shot mRNA booster. Details in the linked post below:

It is virtually universally agreed among health experts that official COVID case counts here in Thailand and elsewhere, as well as officially reported COVID deaths, are a significant UNDERCOUNT of what's really occurred/occurring. And, the tourists you refer to getting put into quarantine "hospitels" are getting put there because they've tested positive for COVID, so their cases would be counted as legitimate and official case stats regardless of whether they end up in hospitels or stay in their own hotel or even just get sent on their merry way to go out and infect others.

MoPH reported today that Bangkok province crossed the 200 mark (201) for COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition on Tuesday (up from 196 the day before), though it claimed only about 30% of the province's hospital beds suitable for COVID cases are being used. The chart below ranks Thailand's top 10 provinces based on numbers of serious COVID cases in hospital as of Tuesday, along with each province's occupancy rate for COVID-suitable hospital beds. https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106142991004034/527465772205085/?type=3

Today's MoPH recap of the 80 newly reported COVID deaths: --42 males, 38 females --78 Thais, 1 Vietnamese, 1 unknown --Median age of 72, with range between 2 months and 95 years. --59 (74%) of the deaths were ages 60 or older --15 (19%) of the deaths had chronic conditions but were under age 60 --6 (7%) were under age 60 with no known chronic conditions Among the 77 provinces, Bangkok had the most new COVID deaths with 12. https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106142991004034/527466342205028/?type=3

MoPH's update today of the past two week trends for (from left to right on the chart) serious COVID hospitalizations, intubations, new daily deaths and 14-day average for daily new infections: (everything is up comparing now vs two weeks prior, March 10-23) https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106142991004034/527466162205046/?type=3

Am I reading/translating this right? MoPH seems to be saying they're now allowing fourth shots (2nd booster of Pfizer) at the Bang Sue Central Vaccination Center in BKK for people who previously had two AZ shots plus a Pfizer or Moderna booster at least 120 day prior??? And shortening the waiting time for 3rd shot booster doses for pretty much all prior vaccine combos to only 90 days after the prior 2nd shot vaccination? https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/posts/527420905542905 Translation of the announcement posted earlier today: Bang Sue Central Vaccination Center adjusting the spacing of the booster vaccine For people aged 12 years and over according to the announcement of the Ministry of Public Health Needle 3 It was the one who injected the Pfizer-Pfizer (PP) formula. or AstraZeneca - Pfizer (AP) or Moderna - Moderna (MM) or AstraZeneca - Moderna (AM) by receiving the second dose for at least 90 days (Children aged 12-18 years have received the 2nd dose for at least 120 days and given normal dosage) 4th needle He is a person who has had 2 AstraZeneca injections. and get the 3rd needle It's the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine (AAP/AAM). at least 120 days ago Previous injections came from all injection centers across the country. Can Walk-in without registration to receive the booster vaccination Pfizer vaccine, purple cap at the vaccination center in the center of Bang Sue Gate 2 every day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Open until 6 Apr 65 The center will be closed during Songkran, 7-17 April 65 Will open for service again on April 18, 65

As of March 21, MoPH said Chonburi province had 39 COVID cases hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia type symptoms (ranked 9th highest in raw serious case numbers among the 77 provinces) And they were using about 39% of their available COVID hospital beds in the province.

What exact "rights" of yours were taken away? And when was "society" shut down? Did drinking alcohol in a pub or restaurant somehow become a "right" somewhere along the way? Is it enshrined in the Thai constitution somewhere that I've missed? Or are you not happy about having to wear a face mask when outside in public to protect yourself and others around you from a virus that can put people in the hospital and kill them? Did you lose your "right" to endanger others?

Here's a recent comparison on per capita rates country to country including Thailand and various others in Asia: (yesterday's update from the Thai MoPH) COVID deaths in the past week per million population: Hong Kong -- 242 South Korea -- 42 Malaysia -- 17 Thailand -- 8 Japan -- 8 Vietnam - 5 https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106455480972785/526877065597289/?type=3

Elsewhere for example (via Johns Hopkins): "US health officials are watching the situation in other countries, including the UK and France, for clues about how the BA.2 subvariant might impact the US. In the UK, new COVID-19 case numbers have doubled in the past 3 weeks, and hospitalizations also are rising. Case numbers also are rising in France, where most COVID-related mitigation protocols were recently lifted. " It's never done until it's really done. https://myemail.constantcontact.com/COVID-19-Updates---March-22--2022.html?soid=1107826135286&aid=Dt-VqO_r2xk

You didn't want to focus on COVID case counts and instead wanted to focus on hospitalizations and deaths... So I helped you focus on those... But apparently confronted with Thailand having record high serious COVID hospitalizations for the year right now, now you want to change the subject again.... Serious COVID hospitalizations are an inconvenient truth, I guess...

Thus far, Thailand looks relatively good compared to several other countries in Asia with major COVID problems right now, including South Korea, Hong Kong and even Malaysia... Both in raw numbers but more importantly in per capita comparisons for cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Thailand's cases and hospitalizations have generally been rising slowly since the start of the year. But all the major stats in places like South Korea and Hong Kong have exploded upward like a rocket in recent weeks.

Serious COVID hospitalizations have been rising almost daily and set another record high for the year on Wednesday at 1,496. Daily deaths reported on Wednesday hit 80, which is down a bit from Monday's record yearly high of 88.

Official new COVID cases in Thailand reported on Wednesday rebounded sharply to 25,164, ending a four-day series of declines, while serious cases in hospital (1,496) and intubations (562) both rose again to set new record highs for the year. The official new cases count (the fifth highest daily total of the year), combined with 26,812 unofficial cases via positive ATK tests, brought Thailand's combined total for the day to 51,976, the highest level in at least the past week and one of the highest of the year thus far. The daily official COVID death toll, meanwhile, declined for a second consecutive day to 80, down from a yearly record high of 88 on Monday and 83 yesterday. The new official cases tally reported Wednesday, along with the unofficial cases and the combination of the two and daily deaths, all were higher than the comparable figures reported last Wednesday. Overall, the reported number of active COVID cases under care rose to 237,128, higher than the week ago total, but below the yearly record 240,339 total reached last Monday. Lastly, the Thai MoPH finally began publicly updating their past 7 days average figure of COVID test positivity after not doing so for many days, and reported a rate of 26.5%. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main For added context, during the peak of the Delta wave last fall, Thailand's daily COVID case count topped out at 23,418, but the numbers of serious hospital cases and intubated patients peaked above 5,600 and 1,100 respectively, and daily deaths topped 300 for a brief period.

That calculation might be right in terms of mathematics, but it's wrong in terms of reality, because it doesn't figure in the fact that a lot of vaccine doses have been administered lately as 3rd shot booster doses to people who already had two. So, the actual share of Thailand's population that's received TWO doses is about 72% overall... But even that doesn't mean a lot because really THREE doses are recommended to best protect against the current Omicron variant and counteract waning vaccine effectiveness over time since the first two shots. And the three-dose share of the population right now is only 32%.

The Russian military's heavy losses from Ukraine in charts "In three weeks of fighting in Ukraine, Russia has lost an estimated 7,000 troops, according to U.S. intelligence. ... Experts say this rate of casualties is unsustainable for the Russian army and is terrible for morale on the battlefield and at home. There are more than 150,000 total Russian troops involved in the war with Ukraine, and an estimated 14,000 to 21,000 are injured, a huge toll that is contributing to the stalemate developing as Ukrainian fighters halt the Russian advance." (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-russian-military-s-heavy-losses-from-ukraine-in-charts/ar-AAVkIVK

How Ukraine’s Outgunned Air Force Is Fighting Back Against Russian Jets ... "Nearly a month into the fighting, one of the biggest surprises of the war in Ukraine is Russia’s failure to defeat the Ukrainian Air Force. Military analysts had expected Russian forces to quickly destroy or paralyze Ukraine’s air defenses and military aircraft, yet neither have happened. Instead, Top Gun-style aerial dogfights, rare in modern warfare, are now raging above the country." (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-ukraine-s-outgunned-air-force-is-fighting-back-against-russian-jets/ar-AAVmcbe

Russian military correspondent quits over Ukraine war and says Putin is sending army to ‘slaughter’ "A military correspondent at Russian state-owned news agency TASS has launched a scathing attack on Vladimir Putin’s “insane” leadership which is sending his soldiers to “slaughter” in Ukraine. Gleb Irisov, 31, has quit and says many of his ex-colleagues opposed the war, leading to action by the FSB security service. ... He revealed that journalists at TASS had signed an extraordinary petition opposing the war which led to the FSB’s involvement and critics being branded “traitors”. (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-military-correspondent-quits-over-ukraine-war-and-says-putin-is-sending-army-to-slaughter/ar-AAVmyI5?ocid Considering this is Putin's Russia, this guy's stance would seem to be taking a lot of balls....

Please share that thought with any number of Thai merchants whose websites won't accept my U.S. debit cards for online transactions, and some even credit cards as well. In-person use of foreign cards usually goes pretty well, because a different security standard is involved. But for online purchases, these days because of all the online card fraud, the card transaction processors in various countries can make it quite difficult to do online purchases with bank cards from foreign countries. And in the banking world, Thailand tends to be thought of as a place with a lot of card fraud, which probably puts its cards in a more problematic situation internationally than those from the UK.

The heads begin to roll in Russia "European media report that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the house arrest of two senior Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. Colonel-General Sergei Beseda, Chief of the FSB's "Fifth Service," reportedly was detained along with his deputy, Anatoly Bolyuk, charged with providing flawed intelligence about Ukraine and their improper use of operational funds. Separately, Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine's national security council chief, claimed that several Russian generals have been fired. ... Perhaps emulating Joseph Stalin, this could be the onset of a purge and Putin's desperate ploy to provide his domestic audience with a fall guy for self-inflicted wounds." https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-heads-begin-to-roll-in-russia/ar-AAVm1nK

USA Today has an interesting report recapping the [mostly failed] efforts of the various U.S. presidents up thru Biden to come to productive terms with Putin.... 'War criminal': As Biden gets personal with Putin, US, Russia relationship hits a dangerous crisis ... "The leaders had previously met when Biden was vice president, during a 2011 trip to Russia. Referencing Bush’s claim that he had gotten a sense of Putin’s soul, Biden later said he told Putin: “I don’t think you have a soul.” “And he looked back at me, and he smiled, and he said, ‘We understand one another,’” Biden told The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos in 2014. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/war-criminal-as-biden-gets-personal-with-putin-us-russia-relationship-hits-a-dangerous-crisis/ar-AAVm57V

It's the countries nearby to Russia, not surprisingly, that are advocating stronger NATO action for the very reason you mention. It's the far away countries like the U.S. that thus far have been opposing it, understandably, out of fear direct NATO involvement could lead to some version of WWIII and nukes being deployed. Hopefully, there's some way the west can DO MORE in a meaningful way that isn't likely to trigger the various nightmare scenarios.

Forum member @Eaglekott 's list of the top Thailand provinces for COVID cases based on Monday's new cases data, ranked by per capita rate of cases (per 100,000 population). Rayong, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Phuket are all in the top 10 for this tally. The full list of all the ranked provinces is listed in his running thread on the subject at: https://aseannow.com/topic/1221220-information-about-new-covid-19-cases-per-province/?do=findComment&comment=17260790

Sorry, you're misreading the meaning of the news report headline above... (which the news source wrote, not me). It doesn't mean NATO's resolve against Russia is faltering. It does mean, the prior collective NATO position AGAINST direct involvement is "faltering," with the several named NATO countries in the report now urging stronger, direct NATO action against Russia such as a no-fly zone. The NATO non-involvement stance is faltering (with some member countries now beginning to dissent)... which is correct... and not necessarily a bad thing.