Pattaya: Coronavirus expected to hit hard as crisis meeting mulls options

[sambum]

4 hours ago, colinneil said:

Money, money, money, thats all you hear about here, money.

We will lose money, sod the fact people are dropping all over the place, some even dying.

Pathetic that we hear tourist numbers will be down, 50 billion baht lost.

Nail on the head as always Colin!

 

[harada]

So that quality tourist thing didn't work out so well then, no doubt prices will now rise to compensate for the drop in tourist numbers. ????

[Elkski]

Did and health  official or hospital staff get invited to this money meeting?  What about factory owners in chonburi.  I thought Sean Barry was the factory heart of Thailand?  So let's just disrupt the last remaining money producing heart of Thailand.  Shirley they see how obvious this looks to everyone Chinese and Thai and  all foreigners alike. Just what my impression is from going to Thailand for the last three and a half years all you see is greed in everyone's eyes

[anfh]

Unbelievable stupidity by these people. Same as the Tourist Board “ carry on shopping “ the failure of these people is just beyond epic !!! 

[URMySunshine]

I've heard from my nieces in Pattaya that Chinese tourists already here are remaining for the time being in the hotels they are in. Can anyone confirm this. If so this could go on for some time with them 'imprisoned' in their hotels and resorts. I wonder if so what they will do and who will pay for it ?

[Thomas Hannah]

Killer virus about.Encourage you to go to crowded places because they have made it free.The mind boggles.

[Peterphuket]

Current website:

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

[Bangkok Barry]

9 hours ago, johng said:

And the price  for foreign tourist rises to compensate ?????

 

There is already a 'special price' for non-Thais as part of their discriminatory pricing policy. You alien, you rich, you pay more.

[Soikhaonoiken]

We all know money number 1 in Thailand, never mind the health risks, also what good is it to give free admission for Thais to Nong Nooch Gardens, time would be better spent on trying to control this virus.... 

[URMySunshine]

Horrible place , tackiness on an epic scale beside,  if you think two drugged tigers chained by the neck so they can hardly move their heads and with a keeper with a stick hitting them under the chin to get the head up as asians pose for 100 baht selfies is a good thing then go. And the elephants aren't much better - left angry and almost in tears a couple of weeks ago and 500 baht lighter on the pocket. I wouldn't go if you paid me to go. 

[kingofthemountain]

9 hours ago, Beggar said:

"The best they could come up with to offset the expected lack of tour groups and families over the coming weeks was to make Nong Nooch gardens free for any Thai coming from Chonburi." 

 

Please help me to understand this. It will help Nong Nooch if the people come and don't pay anything? 

They don't pay the entry ticket, but still they can buy inside food and drinks from the shops

plus some stuff like the elephant ride.

The biggest concern imo is they have a major public health problem in the area

and the only thing the local ''authorities'' do is to meet in a private venue and try

to solve the problem of the drop in the financial profit of this private venue.

Only this talk a lot about the priorities of the ones in charge, you can't even imagine something like that in a ''normal'' developped country

for example they could be concerned about the lack of pretection equipments

at the moment most of the shops in Pattaya are out of stocks for the face masks.

Edited January 27, 2020 by kingofthemountain

[DannyCarlton]

8 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Free entry and die! Real smart! People please dont listen to these idiots. Get some masks, stock up and wait it out if your in a risk area.

Chance would be a fine thing. I'm desparate for a couple of N95 masks as I'm travelling to Phnom Penh via Suvarnabhumi on Friday. Tried 4 different outlets today with no luck.

 

Can anyone say where to get a N95 mask in Pattaya?

[kingofthemountain]

2 hours ago, URMySunshine said:

I've heard from my nieces in Pattaya that Chinese tourists already here are remaining for the time being in the hotels they are in. Can anyone confirm this. If so this could go on for some time with them 'imprisoned' in their hotels and resorts. I wonder if so what they will do and who will pay for it ?

I have seen some groups today afternoon, but not a lot.

 it seems most of the chinese have gone.

No buses on the streets, the traffic was much better, the air quality also.

All the chineses wear a face mask.

Only 50% of the Thais have one.

Also less people in the malls and in the supermarkets here yesterday and today

[kingofthemountain]

6 hours ago, Beggar said:

Here in Pattaya there is an easy fix. Lure all Chinese tourists to the island they love so much anyway (Koh Larn) and don't bring them back to the mainland. 

the local population of Koh Larn highly disapprove your plan

 

on the other hand there is a small island just beside with no one on it

at the moment

just saying

Edited January 27, 2020 by kingofthemountain

[Elkski]

Good article  about the Canada  case.  Author says they failed because they let him in. 

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/matt-gurney-health-officials-can-reassure-us-all-they-want-but-our-system-failed

[kingofthemountain]

6 hours ago, flyingsaucersarereal said:

December 31st 29.69 baht to the dollar now 30.7 Losing the Chinese tourists is going to hurt the economy big time. 

 

My suggestion let's scrap the TM30 and encourage all tourists to come to Thailand not just China and India.

 

Create more visa options and incentives to visit Thailand for all tourists!

 

 

And don't forget a big vinyl paperboard at the airport arrival immigration control

and in all the immigration offices with in big red letters

WELCOME BACK WESTERNERS ALL IS FORGIVEN

[Beggar]

22 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

Chance would be a fine thing. I'm desparate for a couple of N95 masks as I'm travelling to Phnom Penh via Suvarnabhumi on Friday. Tried 4 different outlets today with no luck.

 

Can anyone say where to get a N95 mask in Pattaya?

I have bought mine at Home Pro - for construction some time ago. They are 3M. Today I used them the first time in the Central Mall. No fun - very hot. I will avoid to go to crowded places for a while... 

[DannyCarlton]

1 minute ago, kingofthemountain said:

And don't forget a big vinyl paperboard at the airport arrival immigration control

and in all the immigration offices with in big red letters

WELCOME BACK WESTERNERS ALL IS FORGIVEN

They won't be coming back. Every Western news outlet is listing Thailand first as a country that Coronavirus has spread to. What few Westerners that were coming here are cancelling.

[DannyCarlton]

4 minutes ago, Beggar said:

I have bought mine at Home Pro - for construction some time ago. They are 3M. Today I used them the first time in the Central Mall. No fun - very hot. I will avoid to go to crowded places for a while... 

Tried Homepro today, sold out.

 

I only intend wearing them when transiting through BKK and Phnom Penh airports.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by DannyCarlton

[Guest]

6 hours ago, flyingsaucersarereal said:

December 31st 29.69 baht to the dollar now 30.7 Losing the Chinese tourists is going to hurt the economy big time. 

 

My suggestion let's scrap the TM30 and encourage all tourists to come to Thailand not just China and India.

 

Create more visa options and incentives to visit Thailand for all tourists!

 

 

And in a moment of irony (for you at least) ... turns out keeping track of people moving around a country is a brilliant first step in calculating and preventing a pandemic.  Do you not see that if the government wanted to, they could check the records and locate a very high percentage of people who came to Thailand from China in the past month?

[Mark Evans]

Just returned from a business trip to the US planned months ago. Landed in LAX late on 18th with 100s of people waiting in the Immigration queue.  At least 50% of them Chinese, no screening with detectors or health questions asked. What's worse is we waited 3 hours to be processed,  meanwhile people around us sneezing and coughing. Apparently this virus lays dormant until symptoms appear but by then it's too late,  so my belief this will be bigger than SARS. On my return one week later again zero checks at LAX or at SGN airport. Seems authorities are still quite relaxed about this insidious threat, which should be a concern for all. 80 confirmed dead to date however this count could be insignificant when the final toll is reached. Cover up and avoid crowded places when possible. 

[URMySunshine]

Bought a few in Yala today on my way back to Jomtien. Looked at Amazon uk all out and probably all made in China so won't be any restocks.  Maybe one could make some sort of diy mask that would help I'll have a look on the internet. If this blows over and I sincerely hope it turns out to be a serious flu/SARS type thing then it might be prudent when things get back to normal to have a cupboard with a 100 masks and hand gel as a precaution if the next virus was the baddie. A resourceful missus with some elastic, tea cloths and sewing supplies should be able to knock up some good copies in no time. 

 

A home made tea cloth mask offers some protection. Any mask helps to remind us not to go from hand to mouth and to be aware of our surroundings and the importance of handwashing when back to base. No doubt better solutions will pop up soon to fill the void. 

 

It is also clear that home-made masks such as teacloths may still confer a significant degree of protection, albeit less strong than surgical masks or FFP2 masks. Home made masks however would not suffer from limited supplies, and would not need additional resources to provide at large scale.

 

A recent analysis of the 1918 epidemic, noted that cities where strict interventions were implemented early on to prevent transmission, were overall worse-off than cities where some degree of transmission occurred early on [16]. Given the need for the population to acquire sufficient natural immunity over time, it can not be excluded that the amount of protection conferred by home made masks might sufficiently reduce viral exposure to impact on transmission during the early waves, while allowing people enough exposure to start mounting an efficient immune response.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440799/.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by URMySunshine

[mike787]

Bar fines should drop to free.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Mark Evans said:

Just returned from a business trip to the US planned months ago. Landed in LAX late on 18th with 100s of people waiting in the Immigration queue.  At least 50% of them Chinese, no screening with detectors or health questions asked. What's worse is we waited 3 hours to be processed,  meanwhile people around us sneezing and coughing. Apparently this virus lays dormant until symptoms appear but by then it's too late,  so my belief this will be bigger than SARS. On my return one week later again zero checks at LAX or at SGN airport. Seems authorities are still quite relaxed about this insidious threat, which should be a concern for all. 80 confirmed dead to date however this count could be insignificant when the final toll is reached. Cover up and avoid crowded places when possible. 

Mark ... thank you for this timely update ... which sadly points out the fact the USA is actually BEHIND Thailand in awareness and screening.

[amykat]

5 hours ago, Elkski said:

Did and health  official or hospital staff get invited to this money meeting?  What about factory owners in chonburi.  I thought Sean Barry was the factory heart of Thailand?  So let's just disrupt the last remaining money producing heart of Thailand.  Shirley they see how obvious this looks to everyone Chinese and Thai and  all foreigners alike. Just what my impression is from going to Thailand for the last three and a half years all you see is greed in everyone's eyes

I have the feeling you did not TYPE this??

[kingofthemountain]

17 minutes ago, mike787 said:

Bar fines should drop to free.

On a more serious note i have a think for all these poor girls 

exposed in the bar scene and they have 0 possibilities to be protected at work

with even a face mask (Can you imagine the negative impact on the customer base?)

Very sad times for them

[kingofthemountain]

23 minutes ago, bangkokequity said:

Mark ... thank you for this timely update ... which sadly points out the fact the USA is actually BEHIND Thailand in awareness and screening.

The french don't do screening at the airports

and they publicly explain why, it's simply totaly useless

and worst it gives a false feeling of safety to the public

The people can be infected without showing external symptoms and still they

are contagious during this period. In fact most of the actual cases in the countries

outside of China have not been detected by the screening at the airports.

Edited January 27, 2020 by kingofthemountain

[amykat]

I bet face masks are being bought up by any Chinese who visit, to take back to  China.

[DannyCarlton]

1 minute ago, kingofthemountain said:

On a more serious note i have a think for all these poor girls 

exposed in the bar scene and they have 0 possibilities to be protected at work

with even a face mask (Can you imagine the negative impact on the customer base?)

Very sad times for them

Bar girls are amongst the lowest risk groups. Never met a bar girl who has had a mainland Chinese customer. In fact I'm not certain I've ever seen a mainland Chinese in a bar. Probably the safest places to be in pattaya ATM. Certainly safer than eating in the food court at T21.

[kingofthemountain]

7 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

Bar girls are amongst the lowest risk groups. Never met a bar girl who has had a mainland Chinese customer. In fact I'm not certain I've ever seen a mainland Chinese in a bar. Probably the safest places to be in pattaya ATM. Certainly safer than eating in the food court at T21.

i was thinking of the ones in front of the gogos in walking street

with thousands of people (And untill yesterday huge groups of chineses

coughing and spitting) walking in front of them every night

 

Also don't forget all the massage parlors in the Central marina area

some of the chineses are (Were) the customer base here, beside the indians

 

But you are right most of the bars have a westerners customers base

so they are not really impacted

Edited January 27, 2020 by kingofthemountain