Oh dear, nothing surprises any longer!.......the government themselves appear to have been stockpiling face-masks.....being able to hand out 45,000 at a blink is likely seen as a good pr exercise for them....when in fact they are possibly creating shortage of equipment problems....what else have they hoarded..apart from cash of course?

8 hours ago, Moonlover said:

I'm living in rural north east Thailand and I couldn't less about  corona virus. And no one else around me seems bothered either.

People on the world's most remote Pacific islands and in the Arctic, died of the Spanish flu.

-- Bye, see  u! post soon.

10 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I had asked my wife to call around and check, and at least as of today, the only government GPO pharmacy that had any regular paper masks in BKK was the GPO pharmacy at the BKK CW Immigration building, and the staff there told her by phone that they had people queuing up.... But only paper masks, no N95 available.

 

I've found these to be very cheap and an effective option.

Edited February 7, 20206 yr by roo860

8 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The Blue Flag (Thong Fah) stores normally, as I recall, are for low-income Thai people who have registered and qualified for that government-sponsored program....

 

So one question here would be -- are the future mask sales thru the Blue Flag stores only going to be for targeted low-income Thais, or are they going to be open to the general public?

 

Try your pink card!

8 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I think the current degree of coronavirus concern around Thailand is probably directly correlated to the extent of Chinese tourists and tourism in that particular area.

 

I agree. However a lot of Thais are likely to be laid off in those tourist areas ans I wonder how many of them will return to their villages to be with family. It only takes one infected person.

 

My wife's daughter came home from Koh Samui a few days ago. She works in a well known hotel down there which caters mainly for Chinese and is on Holiday right now. She asks me if I was worried about the coronavirus. I jokingly replied 'I wasn't until you came'.

 

(I haven't of any cases on KS)

 

Edited February 7, 20206 yr by Moonlover

38 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

9 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

An image from Wuhan, according to one of the UK tabloids:

 

I don"t think even these are available in Thailand :))

Of course they are. You can buy sanitary towels nearly everywhere.

16 minutes ago, rabas said:

People on the world's most remote Pacific islands and in the Arctic, died of the Spanish flu.

-- Bye, see  u! post soon.

This is true of course, but I think the world is a lot better prepared than it was back then. And there isn't a world war going on to help spread it around. However, do see my earlier post. (#35)

 

Edited February 7, 20206 yr by Moonlover

9 hours ago, Moonlover said:

I'm living in rural north east Thailand and I couldn't less about  corona virus. And no one else around me seems bothered either.

I live in rural western central Thailand and it's the same here. My mother in law think I'm crazy to have bought 6 months of food for all the (extended)familly. She said the virus cannot come here. Maybe she forgot one of her friend is a taxi driver in Bangkok and he come back every week. 

Edited February 7, 20206 yr by Tayaout

11 hours ago, Thian said:

At the immigration there were 2 empty pumpbottles for the sanitizers...and we had to be there for 3 hours while nobody around us was wearing mouthmasks.....terrible and very unprofessional.

You're in luck; there are two empty bottles but it only remains to fill them ...

In 99% of establishments where you can eat in Thailand there  is no bathroom to wash your hands before eating.
Have you already seen them in chic restaurants in Thai malls?
me never ...

You must walk sometimes 400 or 500 meters to find the toilets of the Mall ...where there is often no soap and nothing to dry your hands ...

 

(street food, and it's really dirty, you just have to look at where and how plates and dishes are washed, it immediately makes you want to run away,  but before without needing to be lucky you can take out your camera to take pictures of the rats roaming among the dishes and cutlery.

7 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

I live in rural western central Thailand and it's the same here. My mother in law think I'm crazy to have bought 6 months of food for all the (extended)familly. She said the virus cannot come here. Maybe she forgot one of her friend is a taxi driver in Bangkok and he come back every week. 

'She said the virus cannot come here.'

Sorry to appear rude, but she must be quoting the medical law that states the thicker the skull, the more difficult for diseases to penetrate.

 

10 hours ago, connda said:

Interesting.  I'm living out in the sticks in rural Northern Thailand and the local grocery has plenty of masks. 

hush .... too late now ... ...

1 minute ago, Assurancetourix said:

hush .... too late now ... ...

There is plenty of mask in my area too but no N95. They probably never sell them in the first place. 

Edited February 7, 20206 yr by Tayaout

5 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Hmm, reminds me of this:

It reminds me strangely of what the Japanese were doing to the irradiated people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

If they managed to make a thousand paper crane in a single day , they would have (note the conditional) a few chances to survive.

11 hours ago, YetAnother said:

this whole thing presumes thai can understand the problem and the various real solution paths; ok; 0.1 %

There was a farang here a few days ago who tried to buy hand wash from a Thai pharmacy, the owner denied to sell him the product as its alcohol  based and he was purchasing outside the ridiculous time zones to buy alcohol. I asked my Thai pharmacist yesterday about this  and she laughed; she said you can buy the hand cleaners anytime, yes they are ethyl alcohol  ( drinkable type) but they put a dye in the product to stop people drinking it.  Example of a simple understanding problem.

11 hours ago, connda said:

Seeing that they seem to only sell Ethyl alcohol instead of isopropyl alcohol, you end up smelling like you've taken a bath in booze.

I got a litre of isopropyl locally online last week, so it seems that they do seem to sell it.

3 minutes ago, ben2talk said:

I got a litre of isopropyl locally online last week, so it seems that they do seem to sell it.

I take it you didn't order it between 2pm and 5pm.

30 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

I live in rural western central Thailand and it's the same here. My mother in law think I'm crazy to have bought 6 months of food for all the (extended) familly. She said the virus cannot come here. Maybe she forgot one of her friend is a taxi driver in Bangkok and he come back every week.

The main fear comes from what they call 'superspreaders'. Just one person with no symptoms... and these spreaders are probably going to be working in a hospital or taxi - or 7-11.

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand’s health authorities on Thursday encouraged people to make hand sanitizers and masks at home to guard against the spread of the new coronavirus.

But Thailand can produce 100 million masks a month if need-be.... but every outlet is sold out?

Dont worry we are 100% prepared and it's under control!

3 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Oh dear, nothing surprises any longer!.......the government themselves appear to have been stockpiling face-masks.....being able to hand out 45,000 at a blink is likely seen as a good pr exercise for them....when in fact they are possibly creating shortage of equipment problems....what else have they hoarded..apart from cash of course?

 

Dont forget the apparently large cache of medical supplies including masks that the government just shipped off to China courtesy of you know who...the unmentionable ones.

 

3 hours ago, Moonlover said:

I agree. However a lot of Thais are likely to be laid off in those tourist areas ans I wonder how many of them will return to their villages to be with family. It only takes one infected person.

 

Absolutely... Right now, though, as best as we know, there hasn't been much Thai to Thai transmission of CV... But we'll find out in the coming weeks if that manages to remain the case, or if things begin to spiral downward.

 

2 hours ago, legend49 said:

There was a farang here a few days ago who tried to buy hand wash from a Thai pharmacy, the owner denied to sell him the product as its alcohol  based and he was purchasing outside the ridiculous time zones to buy alcohol. I asked my Thai pharmacist yesterday about this  and she laughed; she said you can buy the hand cleaners anytime, yes they are ethyl alcohol  ( drinkable type) but they put a dye in the product to stop people drinking it.  Example of a simple understanding problem.

My local gym have a hand sanitizer, by the smell of it I reckon they've mixed in fish sauce!!!

????

14 hours ago, connda said:

Interesting.  I'm living out in the sticks in rural Northern Thailand and the local grocery has plenty of masks. 

 

My wife's family is in a medium sized city in the Northeast. Yesterday, she called around to check with a number of pharmacies in her home town. They had none. YMMV.

 

World Health Organisation advice re masks.  There are many scientists who state that they are ineffective in preventing catching virus, but useful to prevent spread if worn by those who already have virus.

  

13 hours ago, DrTuner said:

I do love the smell of Pattaya in the mornings.

Cue ‘Ride of the Valkyries’

14 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I think the current degree of coronavirus concern around Thailand is probably directly correlated to the extent of Chinese tourists and tourism in that particular area.

 

Called my brother in Boston, MA USA and told him to get some masks at local drug store and give them to a friend of mine who was coming over Wensday. Called back and told me all the local stores were sold out becaause of the Corona Virus scare.

10 minutes ago, Tony125 said:

Called my brother in Boston, MA USA and told him to get some masks at local drug store and give them to a friend of mine who was coming over Wensday. Called back and told me all the local stores were sold out becaause of the Corona Virus scare.

 

I looked on Amazon, Walmart, a few other retailers the other day.. And with the exception of a few places with EXTORTIONATE pricing, all were sold out...   And that's in a situation where there have been what, 11 or 12 confirmed cases thus far in the entire 327+ million population U.S.????

 

I gotta believe, someone's hording them and/or buying them all up beyond just individual citizens...  Dunno if it's China, or governments/government health authorities, or 3M cutting off its normal distribution channels to sell elsewhere.... But the unavailability of masks even in places with very little CV problem is crazy!

Edited February 7, 20206 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

14 hours ago, DrTuner said:

First I thought that ethanol wouldn't be available because you can drink it if untainted, but then I checked lazada and sure enough, food grade ethanol 95% being sold and very cheaply, 290b/1L. Can't be taxed at that price...

Dr Tuner you must be ammasing industrial quantities of kit at this rate ! 

 

This would be better than nothing and cheap and easy to make. But seriously if this gets as bad and profoundly life changing as some people fear then nothing short of a sterile hospital environment nothing will really protect you. One could easily argue at that all this emphasis on paraphernalia is to stop folk feeling out of control and panicking at what they fear maybe coming. 

 

Also if it does get that bad then a 25kg bag of rice, and a few hundred waters might not be amiss. 

 

 

Edited February 7, 20206 yr by URMySunshine

Just watching the live news feed from China on the outbreak. They are reporting that 85% of the fatalities are over 65 with underlying health conditions such as diabetes or respiratory issues. 

13 minutes ago, URMySunshine said:

They are reporting that 85% of the fatalities are over 65 with underlying health conditions such as diabetes or respiratory issues. 

Thats about 98.3% of us here on TVF