Mattd

1 hour ago, Canuck1966 said:

If a person isn't tested in Thailand then they aren't tested after death

Do you not understand this basic principle?

Cause of death could easily be put down to lung infection, pneumonia etc

Thais treat this like the black plague and wouldn't want anybody to think they had it or a relative of theirs

You obviously have zero clue about Thai culture

Most people in the boonies don't even know how this virus kills them and they would definitely never question a doctor

Mate, come on, get real!

Do you honestly think that thousands of EXTRA deaths would go unnoticed and would not make social media at the very least??? 

A few extra deaths would perhaps go unnoticed, I agree, but not to extent of what is being seen in Europe, not a chance of that.

I have lived and worked here for over 31 years and know a lot of Thais, I have a very good handle on Thai culture thanks and so far I do not know of ONE person that has died as a result of this virus, nor do any of the hundreds of Thais I associate with, nor are they telling about the strange death of an Uncle, Aunty, Brother, friend etc. etc. 

I'd lay good money out to suggest that not many TVF members, their wives or friends know of any either.

To say that Thais would not discuss an unusual death is absolute and total rot, there is nothing Thais like more than a good gossip.

I personally think that Thailand has under stated the figures, perhaps not by design, there will almost certainly have been some deaths that have not been officially recognised, by the same token, I also believe that UK & US are overstating, one thing is absolutely certain though, Thailand and the rest of SE Asia have not seen the prevalence of this virus compared to other parts of world, why, I have no idea.

6 minutes ago, Canuck1966 said:

The bodies are burnt and there would not be overflowing hospitals

5555 You cannot seriously believe that the government here could get away with cremating thousands of additional citizens without anybody getting to know about it...............

2 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Which is how immunity is built up. 

 

People were exposed to much worse diseases in the past. But were hardier. Better diets, fitter and more time spent outside in the natural elements. Now, too much obesity, aircon, central heating etc. etc etc. The human race has weakened it's own gene pool and genetic development physically. 

 

 

This is spot on, the way that this whole thing has been handled is appalling, not just in Thailand but everywhere in the world, use of masks, insensate hand washing, lock downs, social distancing  etc. etc. contribute to the spread of viruses in the longer term, as the human race will have a lower tolerance to fight them naturally due to our immune systems not being exposed as designed.

By all means protect those that are vulnerable, otherwise let this virus takes it natural course.

3 minutes ago, Logosone said:

What could it be...it's a real mystery....

This is very true and possibly will be the key to controlling the virus once (if) that mystery is unraveled.

One thing is for certain, the extent of the infection rates seen in Asia is generally lower than Europe or North America, this has nothing to do with the handling of the disease, social distancing, masks etc. as previously stated, these measures slow the infection rate down only.

The UK for instance is finding that different ethnic groups are more prone than others, Indian race being one of them, yet India itself is not suffering that badly.

15 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

While your points about the effects of the lockdowns on business and incomes are valid, the point about the virus may not be.

 

The 'incubation period' is a range of when one acquires the virus and symptoms appear. Could be the next day one gets sick, could be a fortnight. The critical and unusual thing about CV-19 is that unlike SARS and MERS, and even Ebola, CV-19 can be spread even by those showing no symptoms. One person could be the transmission point, because that one person could be in contact with dozens of people, who could then contact dozens more, etc. Lunar New Year travel coincided with the outbreak, which kind of equates to a Perfect Storm.

 

As for deaths after the lockdowns were enforced, as any of these articles show, the lockdowns are often violated intentionally or through circumstances like commuting. There are also false negatives on tests, as well as faulty tests, so some infected people were able to move about, allowed to cross a border, etc.. Then there is the presence of the virus on inanimate surfaces, which can survive anywhere from a few days to as long as 17 days, depending on the surface material, ambient temperature and humidity, and the efficiency of cleaning.

 

Masks, too, are only partially effective, even N95 masks. The virus is tiny. Here's a comparison:  the size of the virus relative to a minivan is the same as the minivan relative to the entire planet Earth. Thus any mask one can breathe through, especially a surgical mask, is not going to stop something so small.

I get your point, however, IMO this is enforcing what I am trying to say, that all efforts to stop the virus are in many ways a waste of time and are causing innumerable issues.

If the virus has an incubation period of more than 14 days, then any 14 days quarantine is pointless.

As you say asymptomatic people exist and could be as high as 30%, again nearly impossible to protect against, testing is currently not viable, for a number of reasons.

1. False positives, the test is by no means accurate.

2. The test result is only good for the moment the test is taken, the virus can be contracted at any point afterwards.

3. The number of tests able to carried out on a daily basis is restrictive, even at 100,000 per day it would take close to two years to test the population of Thailand, whilst the risk remains of the tested person contracting the virus after being tested.

38 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

One has to write it.

No way to wait for the magic vaccination or the world will go down the drain.

 

Exactly, the vaccine might never be available, even it if it ever is, the logistics behind vaccinating people (even those who want it) are huge and extremely time consuming, time the world doesn't have, the poverty that is being created will make the virus look like a walk in the park.

All this lock down, wearing masks, ridiculous screens in restaurants, social distancing etc .etc. mean eff all in real world, people cannot abide and go to work, live etc. it is simply not possible, any pathetic attempts to do any of this is a total waste of time.

The so called killer virus originated with ONE person if the media is to be believed, which has since transmitted to millions, countries with severe lock downs have continued to see apparent infections and deaths for weeks and weeks after the lock down was enforced, simple logic says that is not possible, with an incubation period of 14 days then after 21 days of lock down should see the infection rate drop like a stone.

IMO it is all or nothing, so wear a mask properly, or don't bother, have a social distance of xx or don't bother and so on, you cannot have a halfway point.

19 minutes ago, Oldie said:

The logic might be that the authorities can't control everything 24 hours. And if the people stay at home there should be less problems. 

Again, no logic.

1. The authorities here cannot control anything, this has been proven time and time again, the more they restrict, the more some people resist.

2. Reducing hours people are allowed out increases risks, this is simple mathematics.

3. If people are supposed to stay home, then what is the point of a curfew, you either stay home or you don't, the time of day or night matters not one iota. A curfew does not and cannot reduce the infection risk.

I had to go to a pet shop yesterday to purchase pet food, including the 3 staff and myself there were 7 persons in the shop and only one was wearing a mask correctly, myself, the rest were either on the chin or not covering their nose, again, no point behind it all, it is either worn properly or not at all, there is no halfway.

The drive to and from I saw one other person wearing a mask correctly.

8 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

I support this. While in lockdown people will consume more and then jump on the motorbike to go buy more. The road deaths have plummeted since the booze ban was introduced. 

Yeah, they should ban fuel as well.................. nothing like getting to the root cause.

1 hour ago, transam said:

Whens the next "general" election.......?

 

Think there will be change..................????

You, me and 3/4 of Thailand wish for that, ain't going to happen though, which is exactly why the Junta changed the constitution, so long as this remains in force it will be impossible to change the leadership, wouldn't matter if Somchai MP won 99% of the vote, he would never be the PM, the senate controls that.

1 hour ago, Muzzique said:

But alcohol was behind 40% of hospital A&E cases. The ban had reduced this to 15%. This has freed up beds and medical staff for the Coronavirus fight. That's why the ban will continue for a long time.

 

With the Thai death figures for April 2020 running 3 times the previous year average it doesn't take rocket science to guess where these extra deaths are coming from.

 

Even if the government tries to sweep it under the rug and fudges the figures the rest of us should be aware that the Alcohol ban and restrictions will be here for the long term. Until the hospitals can cope the ban will remain. It has little or nothing to do with reducing socialisation but that's what the Thai government would have you believe.

 

Get used to living in an alcohol free Thailand.

What a load of rubbish!

The hospitals here are NOT inundated with Covid-19 cases, in reality they are very quiet, the biggest cause of A&E cases here by far are road accidents, granted some may have been caused by alcohol, biggest contributor to this right now is people are not travelling.

Where on earth are you pulling those death statistics from - unless you can provide a plausible link, then sorry I call your bluff.

10 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

But if the ban has stopped people gathering and the infection rates reflect that, and if the hospitals are benefitting, then why not.

I think you need to look around more, or you live somewhere remote, where I am it hasn't stopped people gathering, far from it, markets are packed, folks come to the lake area and picnic, sit together on their mats eating food with no masks etc. In my moo bahn, several houses having nightly get together, folks coming in cars to sit and chat, booze or no booze. Thais in our office sitting together eating, the list goes on, none of the hospitals in Thailand are overrun, not even close to it.

5 minutes ago, marvin1950 said:

1) this is not Florida.

2) Do you think the government is giving you the true statistics.

3) The government has not done comprehensive testing to determine the actual number of infections.

4) How many covid-19 deaths get unreported.

1) Agreed, but comparisons can be made.

2) Absolutely not giving the true statistics, however, the same could be said for UK etc. who IMO are exaggerating the statistics, or do you truly believe there have been an ADDITIONAL number of deaths in line with the numbers, for example, UK has had 26,000 deaths on top of the normal deaths that would happen anyway? (227,000 deaths worldwide out of population of 7.8 Billion people, % wise is negligible)

3) Again agreed, which would suggest that the death percentage would be a lot lower had they tested more, test or not, if people have it, they have it.

4) All deaths are reported, cause of death is key, how many of the deaths reported in UK etc. as Covid-19 are only because of this, or is it easier to put this as the cause? How many people died of other common causes of death in these past months in comparison to previous years, I'd lay money the % of those causes are down.

5) What has any of this got to do with the banning of alcohol?