Governors put on alert for tougher measures to contain Covid-19

[Mattd]

1 minute ago, Allset said:

I don’t understand this article says there’s already a curfew so I’m guessing that’s just Bangkok or Pattaya because up here there’s no curfew nor have I heard of one anywhere else except here. 

Nationwide curfew in place 22.00hrs to 04.00hrs 

Some provinces have imposed stricter ones.

[kensisaket]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

I don't believe the 25k figure of tests, made up number i think to try to give the impression they are testing sufficiently

[Allset]

2 minutes ago, Mattd said:

Nationwide curfew in place 22.00hrs to 04.00hrs 

Some provinces have imposed stricter ones.

And others haven’t imposed it at all like where I live. 

[madmitch]

8 minutes ago, Mattd said:

The biggest issue is cost, we paid in the region of 6,000 Baht per person, your average Thai simply cannot afford this.

Exactly. It's too prohibitive.

 

The other issue is that there aren't enough labs producing the test results. If you're churning out a constant number of results every day then its no surprise the numbers are flat.

 

However this doesn't explain the very low death count.

[Levanter]

1 hour ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

i don't understand why all those measures are neccasary, when Thailand

coronavirus cases are not growing exponentialy and there are not many 

death cases.

it's only 100-150 cases a day, steady for allready few weeks.

the total number of confirmed cases, after three months since the first

case was discovered, are only 2000+ cases. 

seems like a huge victory over the virus, if the infection rate was high we would

only see photos of packed hospitals and bodies lying in the street (happans

in new york daily). 

so maybe better relax, the way thai knows so well, and just keep it cool and distant,

sweden style. and indeed in may it will all go away.

The 100 or so cases a day is an artifact of Thai testing. All hospital positive cases have to be confirmed by two independent government labs before the numbers are released. They only have so much manpower, equipment and reagents, so this is about the limit of what they can confirm daily. 
 

Anecdotally, some of the more major hospitals are getting up to the 100 or so positive cases daily each. Also, I heard that (a rumour? for real?) that an official document accidentally wrote that there were around 7000 positive cases backlogged for confirmation, but was retracted when it was noticed. 
 

I agree that there hasn’t been much of an indication that healthcare workers are severely distressed and overworked—just that there is a lack of PPE. my guess is that, while Thai numbers are just as underreported or moreso compared to elsewhere, the general habit of wearing masks may mean that people who do get infected  maybbe getting less virus and therefore less severely sick. Alternatively, they are getting sick through other routes, like orally through contaminated hands. Since that route of infection leads to the gastrointestinal tract and not the respiratory tract, it may take longer to develop respiratory symptoms and they could be milder too (because it is harder for the virus to get there from the gastrointestinal tract and there’s more time for the body to mount an immune response). Obviously this is all purely my speculation without much scientIfic evidence to back it up. 

[Mattd]

3 minutes ago, Allset said:

And others haven’t imposed it at all like where I live. 

Negative, Nationwide it is 22.00 to 04.00, this is for ALL provinces, whether they enforce is a different matter.

[Allset]

Just now, Mattd said:

Negative, Nationwide it is 22.00 to 04.00, this is for ALL provinces, whether they enforce is a different matter.

Ok well I guess the delivery guys and restaurants didn’t get the memo here then. 

[Mattd]

3 minutes ago, madmitch said:

Exactly. It's too prohibitive.

 

The other issue is that there aren't enough labs producing the test results. If you're churning out a constant number of results every day then its no surprise the numbers are flat.

 

However this doesn't explain the very low death count.

For the testing we had done, the results took about 48 hours to get, due to the lack of labs, then this time is increasing.

The low death rate is puzzling compared to the ones seen in Europe / USA

[dlclark97]

In anticipation of further restrictions my wife and I went to Big C on Pattaya Kleang yesterday to stock up on a few necessities.  Getting there was no problem.  The store was well stocked.  Your temperature was scanned as you entered the facility and hand sanitizer was available at many locations.  However, patrons were seen in the Big C wearing their masks below their mouths and noses.  Employees should be advised to approach these persons and advise that the mask must be properly worn while in the store.  Other customers doing this could cause an unnecessary confrontation that might well get out of hand.  The only other problem we ran into yesterday is that my wife's supply of contact lenses and run out and every place that sold contact lenses was closed.  Stay well!   

[flamesfan]

9 minutes ago, Mattd said:

Actually, I disagree, I have no idea how the figures are collected or compiled, however I do know that a lot of people are getting tested.

I had cause to get 50 people tested very recently, this was not that easy to organise as all of the hospitals / laboratories are flat out testing, two weeks ago we had to get 6 guys tested as a precaution, our staff spent over 4 hours trying to find a hospital that could accommodate this, some of the bigger hospitals in BKK had several hundreds of people at each hospital waiting on site to be tested per day and were estimating an 8 hour wait at least, the swab tests take less than 3 minutes per person, later on that week we had 4 people go to one of the drive thru testing centres, again in BKK and there were hundreds there also.

Based on this, I would think that 25,000 is on the low side.

The biggest issue is cost, we paid in the region of 6,000 Baht per person, your average Thai simply cannot afford this.

States are testing almost 0.05% and Thailand has tested 0.0003 of their respective populations! Testing is imperative! Somewhat concerned on how this one turns out! I left there about 10 days ago, and returned to Canada. I will return when this blows over as I have a business there. Pray everyone stays well. Be safe!

 

[FarFlungFalang]

2 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

i don't understand why all those measures are neccasary, when Thailand

coronavirus cases are not growing exponentialy and there are not many 

death cases.

The number of cases went from 1-2 cases every 2-3 days then jumped suddenly to around 100 a day so there must have been 1-2 days of exponential growth before resumption of the straight line giving Thailand the most unique looking graph in the world and hoping that nobody would find it strange or maybe they are not actually aware of the existence of graphs as they mostly do pie charts.

[Mattd]

6 minutes ago, dlclark97 said:

In anticipation of further restrictions my wife and I went to Big C on Pattaya Kleang yesterday to stock up on a few necessities.

I tried to go to there on Saturday, unfortunately they have new opening hours, now opening at 10am, I also noticed that they have only the one entrance in use now.

IMHO that is counter productive to social distancing, as less opening hours simply means more people in the shop at any one time, reducing the entrance means everybody has to funnel through one point.

[Ricebarnandrooms]

4 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

The worse is yet to come. Like them or not, we need to support whatever actions they deem necessary. Not too difficult to do.

I can support this statement. I think what all of us would have liked is the actual figures however bad they might be. It’s just not possible for Thailand to have such low numbers. I have just found a relative dead, the ambulance came and confirmed it and the temple told. No checks nothing. She died of old age but you would have thought that there should have been more to it. 

[Kinnock]

Lockdowns, curfews, shorter operating hours, all reduce social distancing by driving panic buying.  Road checkpoints increase unnecessary contact.

 

Increased Army movements spreads the virus by sending people who live in large groups and close proximity all over the place.

 

Large quarantine centres can become a super-spreader base like the Diamond Princess.

 

Most these measures are counter productive.

 

Better to lockdown the Army, extend food store operating hours, quarantine all politicians.

[FarFlungFalang]

13 minutes ago, madmitch said:

However this doesn't explain the very low death count.

Which death count?The real one or the made up one?100 positive tests should yield 1 death approx. which seems to be about right.If someone is not tested for covid19 and they die of covid19 then they will not be counted as a covid19 death.

[scandream]

If the numbers presented to us are actually true, then thailand can be really satisfied and a 24 hour curfew would absolutely not be neccessary. A look at Europe or America shows that the infection rates and the number of deaths per hundred thousand inhabitants is incomparably higher than here in Thailand. In addition, the pandemic in south east asian countries has been managed very well to this day.

[FarFlungFalang]

3 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

Lockdowns, curfews, shorter operating hours, all reduce social distancing by driving panic buying.  Road checkpoints increase unnecessary contact.

 

Increased Army movements spreads the virus by sending people who live in large groups and close proximity all over the place.

 

Large quarantine centres can become a super-spreader base like the Diamond Princess.

 

Most these measures are counter productive.

 

Better to lockdown the Army, extend food store operating hours, quarantine all politicians.

That's a valid point social distancing doesn't mean lockdown it means avoid close contact.

Edited April 6, 2020 by FarFlungFalang

[Mattd]

1 minute ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Which death count?The real one or the made up one?100 positive tests should yield 1 death approx. which seems to be about right.If someone is not tested for covid19 and they die of covid19 then they will not be counted as a covid19 death.

I can support that statement here, however, not in most of the rest of the world, a sudden death in the UK for example would be investigated and a cause of death ascertained, had that person been displaying signs of covid-19 and healthy prior, then it would be attributed to.

[wimpy]

2 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

That's a valid point social distancing doesn't mean lockdown it means avoid close contact.

Unfortunately, that is not what is taking place - at least in my neighborhood. The villagers are getting together and eating and drinking as usual.

[smedly]

36 minutes ago, pookondee said:

The figures reported may be accurate

you missed my point

 

Yes the figures are probably accurate and reflects the limited level of testing 

 

If Thailand was testing (not the useless checking numbers they are putting out) to the same level as other countries then the data would be a true reflection of exactly what is going on here - testing 200 per day doesn't cut it - not even close, responsible countries showing huge figures are actually testing to reflect the huge numbers they are showing, Thailand may as well not bother as the insignificant testing rate is useless and doesn't come close to reflecting the actual true figures in this country

 

Like I keep saying .......................no testing nothing to report 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, Titan1962 said:

It’s the only option the PM has,too many people still showing total disrespect for the current laws. I see normal housing extensions going on,I see bubble tea shops open,small none essential businesses still open

In my market town west from Bangkok you'd think life was normal during the day, market areas covered or street affairs all operating as normal.

No social distancing, just the usual free-for-all.

Shops appear open as normal apart from the designated ones, all doing business.

[edwinchester]

4 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

The worse is yet to come. Like them or not, we need to support whatever actions they deem necessary. Not too difficult to do.

Necessary action should have happened over 2 months ago but instead they adopted a wait and see despite what was happening in China and elsewhere.

This Govt is worse than useless but they have the weapons so the populace have to suck it up and pay the price.

Hopefully one day they will find out how Ceausescu felt when his day of reckoning came.

[Yadon Toploy]

1 hour ago, wimpy said:

How do you know this? A good friend is a logistics officer in the Thai Marines. She told us yesterday that we should prepare for a total 24 hour lockdown. Stock up on food, drinking water, etc.

This was told to us yesterday direct from Thai authorities too. 

[jojothai]

45 minutes ago, Burma Bill said:

Will the soldiers "shoot to kill" anyone not wearing a face-mask??????

Maybe only the dirty farangs?

Aren't they the ones not wearing masks.

[scubascuba3]

44 minutes ago, Mattd said:

Actually, I disagree, I have no idea how the figures are collected or compiled, however I do know that a lot of people are getting tested.

I had cause to get 50 people tested very recently, this was not that easy to organise as all of the hospitals / laboratories are flat out testing, two weeks ago we had to get 6 guys tested as a precaution, our staff spent over 4 hours trying to find a hospital that could accommodate this, some of the bigger hospitals in BKK had several hundreds of people at each hospital waiting on site to be tested per day and were estimating an 8 hour wait at least, the swab tests take less than 3 minutes per person, later on that week we had 4 people go to one of the drive thru testing centres, again in BKK and there were hundreds there also.

Based on this, I would think that 25,000 is on the low side.

The biggest issue is cost, we paid in the region of 6,000 Baht per person, your average Thai simply cannot afford this.

Exactly thais or falang aren't going to want to pay 6k baht. All the queuing for tests in hospitals sounds like madness, a sure way to spread the virus

[apetryxx]

Meanwhile, today is Chakri Day with government employees getting a PAID holiday while businesses forced to close by that same government suffer. 

[Jenkins9039]

3 hours ago, Titan1962 said:

It’s the only option the PM has,too many people still showing total disrespect for the current laws. I see normal housing extensions going on,I see bubble tea shops open,small none essential businesses still open. They can’t contain the spread if people are just going about business as usual. I needed to go to a pharmacy the other day and was shocked at how many people are out and about,how many businesses still open I thought would be closed.

its going to be tough,but once again people have brought it upon themselves. Here in CM they already have prepared the emergency hospital at the convention center,so now it’s just getting the final plan in place with the army. Checkpoints,patrols,places to hold those caught breaking the curfew,working out how to allow people to get necessities.

I think it will be here within the next week or two.

Completing work myself (extensions) - construction is allowed to continue, even in a full lockdown.

[Xbeemer]

The whole point of controlling an epidemic is to put strict measures in place BEFORE it gets out of control. 100 new cases per day down to zero is the goal. Suck it up and get with the program.

[patsfangr]

4 hours ago, Vigilante said:

 

 

The food banks are intended for the poor and income-less (because of the quarantine)

Not for everyone

There will be no full 24-hr curfew

We will be able to shop for a couple of hours at least

There should be no limit on the hours when people can shop. That simply increases the crowding during those hours!

[LomSak27]

A s usual the G always knows more than I do and never really says where she is getting it. Her family is in Chiang Rai  and in the middle of some land office proceedings, yadda yadda yadda. Her and her sister are saying the roads between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai will be closed as of the 8th, for two weeks.  Is that a 24 hour curfew or just isolating provinces.