Social distancing? Forget it - BTS passengers packed in like sardines this morning

[Thunder26]

1 hour ago, OnTheGround said:

Same time,

Pattaya & Jomtien beach closed, Pattaya plod continue to arrest people on the beach, and fine them up to 100,000 or 1 up to 1 year in jail.

 

 

 

This is the same nonsense restriction as the ban of alcohol. There are almost 0 new cases of the virus infection, however Thai officials choose to implement these drastic restrictions and destroy the economy and the livelihood of the people. Restrictions must be lifted as soon as possible.

[webfact]

Technical error halts Skytrain service, fuelling concern as passengers get stuck on platforms 

By The Nation

 

 

Social distancing at Skytrain stations failed miserably this morning (May 5) when hundreds of people found themselves stuck at BTS stations after services were hit by a “technical error”.

 

Pictures of Bangkok residents collecting at BTS stations went viral on the Internet today, contradicting the strict social-distancing measure ordered by the Public Health Ministry.

 

Some netizens even feared the gatherings might cause another big Covid-19 outbreak, given the high transmission of the virus among crowds.

 

BTS officials explained that there was a technical error on the rail line near the Siam and National Stadium stations, affecting Skytrain services. 

 

Technicians later solved the problem and the trains resumed running, much to the relief of concerned passengers.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30387310

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-05-05

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

 

 

[rasmus5150]

1 hour ago, Kinnock said:

What action is really needed is the prevention of wildlife sale in wet-markets and/or banning experiments on GM viruses in unsecured labs - before COVID-20 starts.

And a total ban on export/import from China.

China + Distancing = Chistancing.............

[Wiggy]

Hopefully the one new case wasn’t on the BTS this morning. Or any of the other cases we don’t know about yet. 

[Mattd]

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.

 

 

[transam]

Don't worry, it's all under control, LOS has even been praised for it's handling of the virus situation..

????.........................

 

[Somtamnication]

Covid will return with situations like this!

[tribalfusion001]

London Underground is like this all the time. People have woken up to the fact that they are unlikely to die in this age group.

Edited May 5, 2020 by tribalfusion001

[jvs]

Imo it is not possible to observe social distancing any where where there are people!!

Too many people it is just not possible.

The only thing we can do is hope it does not get out of control but it could.

The only thing to save us all from infection is a vaccine.

Try to stay safe.

[edwardandtubs]

16 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

London Underground is like this all the time. People have woken up to the fact that they are unlikely to die in this age group.

The British government got it right first time before they chickened out due to media hysteria. The best thing would have been to let it rip through the healthy population while shielding the vulnerable. That way herd community could have been achieved in a few months with very little economic damage.

[tribalfusion001]

3 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

The British government got it right first time before they chickened out due to media hysteria. The best thing would have been to let it rip through the healthy population while shielding the vulnerable. That way herd community could have been achieved in a few months with very little economic damage.

Tbh, I think that is the unofficial policy still. Traffic has been increasing for the last week, more people walking around, some of my friends have returned to work and pretty sure no SD restrictions put into place. The UK government haven't given any time frame for a relaxation of the lockdown, so people unlocked themselves.

[lee b]

Everything they have already worked for could just be flung out the window if this kind of stupidity rises the number of cases again.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Pictures on social media this morning showed passengers on Bangkok's BTS system packed in solid on trains and platforms

Did they expect anything different, any "mass transit system" cannot operate any other way?

[Srikcir]

This irresponsible and dangerous crowding is the fault of BTS to allow it.

Each carriage should be limited (as are some airlines) to 25-50% capacity to allow social distancing that prevents touching and direct breathing into each other face. Add viral filtration to ac system.

Provide more carriages on more trains and otherwise control entry into the station itself to keep platforms open. If people can't wait for safe entry, find other means of safe transportation.

[smedly]

out of all the people that travelled on the BTS today - how many had CV-19 ?

 

nobody can answer that question because none of them have been tested and none of them will be tested because the Thai government doesn't want to spend the money

[smedly]

2 hours ago, Thunder26 said:

This is the same nonsense restriction as the ban of alcohol. There are almost 0 new cases of the virus infection, however Thai officials choose to implement these drastic restrictions and destroy the economy and the livelihood of the people. Restrictions must be lifted as soon as possible.

That is of course if they are telling the truth about infection spread, but then again how would they know anyway as they are not testing anyone - I think as someone already suggested - they are just winging it on the cheap and hoping it will all come good

[Tropposurfer]

900 odd deaths a day (every day!) from road deaths as normal and acceptable. Thailand has a few deaths per day from a virus and the whole country stops for months and the people have their lives devastated. 

Months of hourly, constant momentary reporting that this things is akin to Ebola has terrified the populace. 

 

 

[smedly]

1 hour ago, tribalfusion001 said:

London Underground is like this all the time. People have woken up to the fact that they are unlikely to die in this age group.

that is all well and good but how many older people or at risk people do they come in contact with - that is the problem right there which is why test and isolate is very important - winging it and hoping for the best is putting many people at severe risk especially most of the posters on TVF

[smedly]

4 minutes ago, Tropposurfer said:

900 odd deaths a day (every day!) from road deaths as normal and acceptable. Thailand has a few deaths per day from a virus and the whole country stops for months and the people have their lives devastated. 

Months of hourly, constant momentary reporting that this things is akin to Ebola has terrified the populace. 

 

 

I see your point but as far as roads are concerned you can personally do something about it - this virus you can't except never go out and never interact with anyone because you have no idea who is infected and who isn't 

 

Test Isolate test isolate test isolate - Thailand are not testing so that blows that out of the water

[Caldera]

That's horrible and will only get worse once more people will need to commute to work again.

 

[tribalfusion001]

14 minutes ago, smedly said:

that is all well and good but how many older people or at risk people do they come in contact with - that is the problem right there which is why test and isolate is very important - winging it and hoping for the best is putting many people at severe risk especially most of the posters on TVF

At risk groups need to isolate, everyone else needs to carry as on normal. Mass testing is not possible for all countries and even in more developed countries the logistics of testing 60 to 80 million people will take a very long time.

[tribalfusion001]

3 minutes ago, Caldera said:

That's horrible and will only get worse once more people will need to commute to work again.

 

Same as before, rush hour has always been busy on the BTS/MRT.

[2 is 1]

New law to toutch. Keep distance.

 

[vermin on arrival]

4 minutes ago, Caldera said:

That's horrible and will only get worse once more people will need to commute to work again.

 

Yes it is. Some better way needs to be found to get things going, but we can't all live in caves for the next 2 years.

[Enoon]

31 minutes ago, Tropposurfer said:

 Thailand has a few deaths per day from a virus

 

 

Where did you hear that?

 

Thailands "public information" exists in a permanent, ongoing miasma of lies, obfuscation and bombast.

 

The notion that any sort of assessment, or discussion, of the nature and extent of COVID in Thailand, could be made, or could be had, upon its content, is ludicrous.

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Enoon

[ravip]

The best and ONLY option the TVF members have and can practically do is to keep pounding at ones keyboard and unload one's frustrations and wrath at the authorities and await the end...

We've seen whats happening around the world and nothing worse can happen... so, let's pound our keyboards harder!

[mushroomdave]

I am in Taiwan and the MRT has been packed each and everyday, same as even before the virus.  Not only that, they didn't even require masks until just 1 month ago.  And these people are one of the world leaders including (1) no local infections in 16 straight days as of today (2) no deaths in over a month (3) just finished 6 days in a row of "0" infections (and 8 of 9 days none).  So they must know something, and to me, trains being packed are not a big deal....get over it!!

[hotandsticky]

3 minutes ago, mushroomdave said:

I am in Taiwan and the MRT has been packed each and everyday, same as even before the virus.  Not only that, they didn't even require masks until just 1 month ago.  And these people are one of the world leaders including (1) no local infections in 16 straight days as of today (2) no deaths in over a month (3) just finished 6 days in a row of "0" infections (and 8 of 9 days none).  So they must know something, and to me, trains being packed are not a big deal....get over it!!

 

Aer Lingus have obviously adopted your approach on their Belfast to London flights.

 

[vermin on arrival]

6 minutes ago, mushroomdave said:

I am in Taiwan and the MRT has been packed each and everyday, same as even before the virus.  Not only that, they didn't even require masks until just 1 month ago.  And these people are one of the world leaders including (1) no local infections in 16 straight days as of today (2) no deaths in over a month (3) just finished 6 days in a row of "0" infections (and 8 of 9 days none).  So they must know something, and to me, trains being packed are not a big deal....get over it!!

Man I wish I were there now. I messed up and couldn't get on a flight March 18th; needed to just run to the airport and get anything. Originally planned to come on March 29th as I was giving up my flat in BKK and needed to finish storing my stuff. Thing is there is much more transparency in Taiwan and more of a coherent policy there. Think it will be a long time before I can somehow get back to my life there. Unfortunately have no ARC and cannot get one from abroad.

[mushroomdave]

30 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

Man I wish I were there now. I messed up and couldn't get on a flight March 18th; needed to just run to the airport and get anything. Originally planned to come on March 29th as I was giving up my flat in BKK and needed to finish storing my stuff. Thing is there is much more transparency in Taiwan and more of a coherent policy there. Think it will be a long time before I can somehow get back to my life there. Unfortunately have no ARC and cannot get one from abroad.

Sorry to hear.  Yah, all is pretty much normal here.  Everyone working and nothing closed.  Other than schools postponed opening 2 weeks after Chinese New Year, it's business as usual every day!!  A few restaurants with spacing of tables and that's it.  Only places affected are tourist places it seems.  I walk around CKS Memorial Hall daily for my exercise and there are "0" people there.....no 100 buses out front and no throngs of Chinese, Japanese and Koreans knocking each other over for pictures lol!!!!  I can actually walk  "through" the place and enjoy it other than my usual outside the wall route!!

Edited May 5, 2020 by mushroomdave