Governors told to monitor health of locals returning after Bangkok shutdown

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Governors told to monitor health of locals returning after Bangkok shutdown

 

Dr Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoen

 

Provincial governors have been told to keep a strict watch on the health of people returning to their honetowns from Bangkok following the shutdown of the Thai capital.

 

Dr Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoen, director-general of the Department of Disease Control (DDC), sent an urgent letter to all governors to monitor and prevent the Covid-19 disease at the district and village level since many people might return as they cannot work in Bangkok.

 

The letter urges the provincial chiefs to find volunteers for surveillance and monitoring the risk of Covid-19 spreading;

create data of those returning to their hometowns from March 22, and provide them information on the risk of the virus spreading to ensure self-quarantine for 14 days.

 

The letter also says the returnees must be told to strictly avoid sharing food or food containers with others, or personal use products.

 

They should also be told to frequently wash their hands with soap for 20 seconds at least or 70 per cent alcohol hand sanitiser; avoid talking or staying close to people, especially senior or chronic disease patients; and immediately alert the local health officer if they develop fever or respiratory symptoms.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30384598

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-03-22

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[graemeaylward]

Surely it would have been better to keep them in Bangkok rather than spread the disease nationwide! A 'Shutdown" does not prevent this, but a "Lockdown" would mean absolutely no travel and that would cut down on the spread of the virus! This Government have not got a clue and refuse to be guided by other countries experiences!   

[tropo]

19 minutes ago, graemeaylward said:

Surely it would have been better to keep them in Bangkok rather than spread the disease nationwide! A 'Shutdown" does not prevent this, but a "Lockdown" would mean absolutely no travel and that would cut down on the spread of the virus! This Government have not got a clue and refuse to be guided by other countries experiences!   

Yes, you are absolutely right. Letting them leave Bangkok was an incredibly stupid move. As if the returnees will self quarantine for 14 days. That's absurd.

 

By contrast, Manila has been locked down for about 10 days already and NO ONE can return to their home province under any circumstances (all roads are closed, flights and ferries are all cancelled), and also no one can enter their provincial towns as they are all on lockdown too.

 

The lockdown is so strict, just using my wife's hometown as an example... all the outdoor markets were closed and the only store where food can be purchased has a 5 item limit per customer, who have to queue up outside. The Barangay officials constantly monitor the health of all residents and compile reports everyday. No one can get in or out of the town. This is in a town with zero reported cases and they want to keep it that way.

 

 

[eeworldwide]

Its all very well saying that people shouldn't have been allowed to leave Bangkok, but a lot of these people now don't have the resources to stay in the city. I also don't see the government offering any real help to anyone in terms of food stamps and subsidised accommodation etc etc.
We are now at the starting point of a massive epidemic in Thailand.
I'm not sure that the country has the infrastructure to deal with what is about to rain down here.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

This was at Mo Chit bus station on Sunday.

 

Images: ThaiPBS

 

[tropo]

1 hour ago, eeworldwide said:

Its all very well saying that people shouldn't have been allowed to leave Bangkok, but a lot of these people now don't have the resources to stay in the city. I also don't see the government offering any real help to anyone in terms of food stamps and subsidised accommodation etc etc.
We are now at the starting point of a massive epidemic in Thailand.
I'm not sure that the country has the infrastructure to deal with what is about to rain down here.

The needs of individuals are no longer important when the community at large is at risk. Call them collateral damage if you will.

 

Here's just one example of the extreme measures a mayor of a Philippines city of 215,000 has taken. If they can do it there, they can do it here. Meanwhile, in Thailand, international flights continue. with a staggering (under the circumstance) 194 flights arrived yesterday and nearly 10,000 people.

 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1097142

 

These are the necessary steps required to prevent spread. 

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, tropo said:

Yes, you are absolutely right. Letting them leave Bangkok was an incredibly stupid move. As if the returnees will self quarantine for 14 days. That's absurd.

 

By contrast, Manila has been locked down for about 10 days already and NO ONE can return to their home province under any circumstances (all roads are closed, flights and ferries are all cancelled), and also no one can enter their provincial towns as they are all on lockdown too.

 

The lockdown is so strict, just using my wife's hometown as an example... all the outdoor markets were closed and the only store where food can be purchased has a 5 item limit per customer, who have to queue up outside. The Barangay officials constantly monitor the health of all residents and compile reports everyday. No one can get in or out of the town. This is in a town with zero reported cases and they want to keep it that way.

 

 

How would they pay the rent when out of a job?

[timendres]

2 hours ago, tropo said:

The lockdown is so strict, just using my wife's hometown as an example... all the outdoor markets were closed and the only store where food can be purchased has a 5 item limit per customer, who have to queue up outside. The Barangay officials constantly monitor the health of all residents and compile reports everyday. No one can get in or out of the town. This is in a town with zero reported cases and they want to keep it that way.

I am still amused by the people who think they can dodge this bullet. The virus is in virtually every country. It spreads like wildfire. There is no vaccine, and likely will not be one for at least a year. Either you decimate your economy and live under martial law, or you let this process unfold with some reasonable attenuation, and get it over with. I know which choice I prefer.

[Sambotte]

Yeap it looks to me that other countries are concerned with their own defficiencies. No mask, no tests, no beds... Still now in France or USA. So they look down to slow down things. Virus is almost everywhere of course.

When tests, masks, beds, etc. will be finally ready, lock-down will make no sense anymore.

[tropo]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

How would they pay the rent when out of a job?

I have no idea how countless millions of people now out of work around the world will pay their bills. Are you suggesting that their inability to pay rent supersedes the need to slow down or stop the spread of the disease. In other words, let them wander around Thailand spreading infection because the poor souls could not cover their rent in Bangkok.

 

One possible way to help these people is for landlords to stop charging rent for the duration. Electric and utility companies should be deferring payments. Banks also need to come to the party and defer mortgage and loan repayments. They are doing this in other countries.

[tropo]

1 hour ago, timendres said:

I am still amused by the people who think they can dodge this bullet. The virus is in virtually every country. It spreads like wildfire. There is no vaccine, and likely will not be one for at least a year. Either you decimate your economy and live under martial law, or you let this process unfold with some reasonable attenuation, and get it over with. I know which choice I prefer.

So basically you support the idea of allowing the contagion to "wash" over the entire Globe, killing whom it may. Consider it an evolutionary genetic cleaning. Some people do suggest this. One thing is for sure, you'll end up with a much younger population.

 

You can start laughing if you survive and the communities which tried their hardest to avoid it fail. Time will tell.

[timendres]

1 minute ago, tropo said:

So basically you support the idea of allowing the contagion to "wash" over the entire Globe, killing whom it may. Consider it an evolutionary genetic cleaning. Some people do suggest this. One thing is for sure, you'll end up with a much younger population.

 

You can start laughing if you survive and the communities which tried their hardest to avoid it fail. Time will tell.

To be honest, I am not the person to be deciding if this is the best approach. I was not supporting the idea of "allow the contagion to wash over the entire globe", I was pointing out that this is what appears to be happening, despite best efforts. What I read from the experts is that this pandemic is not "stoppable". We see Britain following their experts' advice to optimize the health care system's ability to manage the progression - in other words, optimize the path to herd immunity. This is uncharted territory. What I do believe is that destroying economies on top of this problem will only make matters worse. I do not advocate "killing whom it may". I advocate minimizing the impact.

[tropo]

19 minutes ago, timendres said:

To be honest, I am not the person to be deciding if this is the best approach. I was not supporting the idea of "allow the contagion to wash over the entire globe", I was pointing out that this is what appears to be happening, despite best efforts. What I read from the experts is that this pandemic is not "stoppable". We see Britain following their experts' advice to optimize the health care system's ability to manage the progression - in other words, optimize the path to herd immunity. This is uncharted territory. What I do believe is that destroying economies on top of this problem will only make matters worse. I do not advocate "killing whom it may". I advocate minimizing the impact.

No one is expecting to stop it. They are trying to flatten the growth curve, as has already been seen in China. That doesn't mean to say they won't be able to avoid the contagion in certain communities that are locked down, as in the example I gave you above in the Philippines.

[timendres]

1 minute ago, tropo said:

No one is expecting to stop it. They are trying to flatten the growth curve, as has already been seen in China. That doesn't mean to say they won't be able to avoid the contagion in certain communities that are locked down, as in the example I gave you above in the Philippines.

You are quite correct if, like SARS, Wuhan disappears in 3 to 6 months. Then the lockdown to avoid the contagion might be possible. But it is not realistic to think you can lockdown any but the tiniest of communities forever, which is how long it looks like the Wuhan will be around. I am all for these small enclaves to do their best to ride out the storm. There is always a chance that they will get lucky. But for most of the world, that option is off the table.

[bestie]

2 hours ago, timendres said:

To be honest, I am not the person to be deciding if this is the best approach. I was not supporting the idea of "allow the contagion to wash over the entire globe", I was pointing out that this is what appears to be happening, despite best efforts. What I read from the experts is that this pandemic is not "stoppable". We see Britain following their experts' advice to optimize the health care system's ability to manage the progression - in other words, optimize the path to herd immunity. This is uncharted territory. What I do believe is that destroying economies on top of this problem will only make matters worse. I do not advocate "killing whom it may". I advocate minimizing the impact.

Hi, it's like tropo said its about flatten the curve. If we are able to do that then it give us more time to develop a successful vaccination before the hole world is infected.  If you do nothing, it will only take 6 Month before everyone is infected and it will cost around 160 Million people their life. And what is when the virus will mutate and become more dangerous over time. We need time and to flatten the curve ,we have to stay home over and over again for the next year, probably. 

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, tropo said:

I have no idea how countless millions of people now out of work around the world will pay their bills. Are you suggesting that their inability to pay rent supersedes the need to slow down or stop the spread of the disease. In other words, let them wander around Thailand spreading infection because the poor souls could not cover their rent in Bangkok.

 

One possible way to help these people is for landlords to stop charging rent for the duration. Electric and utility companies should be deferring payments. Banks also need to come to the party and defer mortgage and loan repayments. They are doing this in other countries.

They need food too, who will pay for that?

[CraigInBangkok]

4 hours ago, tropo said:

The needs of individuals are no longer important when the community at large is at risk. Call them collateral damage if you will.

 

If you put people on full on lockdown the government has to provide support. If people cant pay their rent or buy food then the sh!t really will hit the fan. When people get desperate they tend to do what needs to be done to survive. The so called "collateral damage" isnt just one or two people.

[kmj]

so the mentality is close BKK to stop the spread of infection... which in reality ( only seen this in Hua Hin & Cha am) everyone from BKK leaves the capital and spreads the virus everywhere, great thinking you muppets, if if you're going to impose these restrictions do it  nation wide... have you not learnt anything from Italy

[HashBrownHarry]

Letting them all travel back to their home provinces is a terrible mistake, watch the numbers increase from this point forward!

[DrTuner]

Bangkok should be about same as during Songkran soon. Quiet. Which is bad, because while they'll then be able to do social distancing, the returnees to the sticks will be eating out of a common bowl of plaraa in no time. And the health care in banoork places is poor, so it'll be the usual: protect BKK at all costs, sod the peasants. 

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

They need food too, who will pay for that?

In Europe country after country are busting their budgets to provide social security. In here, well there's voldemort and CP that could foot the bill. 

[ChrisY1]

14 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

How would they pay the rent when out of a job?

I don't know about the Phils.....but most countries have imposed no eviction rules during this crisis....

[thequietman]

11 hours ago, DrTuner said:

well there's voldemort and CP that could foot the bill. 

????

[tominbkk]

21 hours ago, graemeaylward said:

Surely it would have been better to keep them in Bangkok rather than spread the disease nationwide! A 'Shutdown" does not prevent this, but a "Lockdown" would mean absolutely no travel and that would cut down on the spread of the virus! This Government have not got a clue and refuse to be guided by other countries experiences!   

And who will pay for the housing and food for 10s of 1000s of these upcountry folk who just lost their job and have no money in their pockets?  The government?

[natway09]

Now, getting back to the post about monitoring the folks returning to the provinces

There is not a hope in H**l that the authorities can cope with the mass influx, indeed many of the returnees will have slipped home unnoticed by the authorities.

Sad, but true , the authorities have aided the virus to get out of the bottle

[transam]

8 minutes ago, tominbkk said:

And who will pay for the housing and food for 10s of 1000s of these upcountry folk who just lost their job and have no money in their pockets?  The government?

Ma & Pa, same as usual, no social security here....Only new tanks and submarines....