An American's Observations On Thailand's Pandemic Response

[rooster59]

An American's Observations On Thailand's Pandemic Response

By Henry Santoro

 

Customers wearing face masks ride an escalator at a newly reopened shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand on June 18, 2020. The government continues to ease restrictions related to running business and activities that were imposed weeks ago to combat the spread of COVID-19. Thailand reported no local transmissions of the coronavirus in the past 3 weeks.

 

As the United States sees an increase in coronavirus cases, Thailand has not reported a new case in nearly a month. WGBH News Host Henry Santoro spoke with local radio personality and WGBH contributor Oedipus, who lives part-time in Bangkok, about his experience living in the country during the pandemic and his concerns coming back to the U.S. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.

 

Henry Santoro: Let's go back to the beginning. You live in Bangkok part of the year, and you also have a home in the suburbs of Boston. At what point did you decide that it was in your better interest to stay in Bangkok rather than come home as this pandemic unfolded here in the States?

 

Oedipus: We arrived in Bangkok on March 1, [and] we had been on the road in other parts of the world since January. We considered coming home early, but I called my doctor and on his advice and about the panic hoarding that was happening in the U.S., it was much safer for us to stay here. Thailand has handled this so well. They had the first recorded case of the virus after China, and that happened only a few days after the first of the year. The government instantly began screening people at the airport. They kept it intact [and] everyone started wearing masks. When we got here on the first of March, about three quarters of the population were wearing masks.

 

Santoro: It sounds to me, Oedipus, like the Thai government was very proactive, they laid down the law, but the residents of Thailand really adhered to it. They listened and they did what they were told to do.

 

Full story: https://www.wgbh.org/news/international-news/2020/06/26/an-americans-observations-on-thailands-pandemic-response

 

WGBH: 20-06-27

[twocatsmac]

He mentions the booze ban but not that it was instigated due to a group of young Thai revellers sharing bottles and passing the virus amongst each other (a single incident).

His apprehension at leaving safe Thailand and returning to America is understandable with the USAs lax attitudes towards the virus and unrest.

 

[4reaL]

Oedipus - lost me at that point.

 

 

[hoxman]

47 minutes ago, twocatsmac said:

He mentions the booze ban but not that it was instigated due to a group of young Thai revellers sharing bottles and passing the virus amongst each other (a single incident).

His apprehension at leaving safe Thailand and returning to America is understandable with the USAs lax attitudes towards the virus and unrest.

 

More then one case, in my locale I know of three incidents that didn't help.

[twocatsmac]

20 minutes ago, hoxman said:

More then one case, in my locale I know of three incidents that didn't help.

Yes, I was referring to the case highlighted in the the Thai press and used as a tool then to implement various lockdown rules.

[ehs818]

I'm American and my observations on why things are better in Thailand vs the USA on Covid spread is pretty simple. Thai's don't hug, kiss, and shake hands when they greet their friends. They wai. No contact, just a nod of respect and a smile.  People in the US simply don't like being told what to do. I know, I'm from there. Less contact means less chance to spread the virus.  PLUS, because of SARS, Bird Flu, and other prior virus's people here are not put off by wearing a mask. It may sound way too simple, but I think my explanation will hold up to scrutiny!

[George Aylesham]

3 hours ago, ehs818 said:

I'm American and my observations on why things are better in Thailand vs the USA on Covid spread is pretty simple. Thai's don't hug, kiss, and shake hands when they greet their friends. They wai. No contact, just a nod of respect and a smile.  People in the US simply don't like being told what to do. I know, I'm from there. Less contact means less chance to spread the virus.  PLUS, because of SARS, Bird Flu, and other prior virus's people here are not put off by wearing a mask. It may sound way too simple, but I think my explanation will hold up to scrutiny!

Agreed - and the Thais are excessively clean - OCD clean!

[CorpusChristie]

7 hours ago, twocatsmac said:

He mentions the booze ban but not that it was instigated due to a group of young Thai revellers sharing bottles and passing the virus amongst each other (a single incident).

His apprehension at leaving safe Thailand and returning to America is understandable with the USAs lax attitudes towards the virus and unrest.

 

I saw many instances of groups of Thais all congregating on the streets and drinking alcohol together , there seemed to be groups on every street corner and outside 7/11s , which makes a mockery of closing the bars , because many people just moved outside on to the streets

[natway09]

Thailand could have done even better if the boxing had been cancelled.

Now look at who was the beneficiary from it going ahead (apart from the boxers) ?

Same wolf in different clothing

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, George Aylesham said:

Agreed - and the Thais are excessively clean - OCD clean!

You've obviously never been in the back room of a Thai restaurant, where the cooking is done. One thing about face masks, it's probably reduced the national pastime of nose-picking.

[Boit]

 

"You've obviously never been in the back room of a Thai restaurant, where the cooking is done. One thing about face masks, it's probably reduced the national pastime of nose-picking."  

 

  And pimple popping. 

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed, this topic is about:

 

An American's Observations On Thailand's Pandemic Response

 

 

[Donga]

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Highest number of deaths in the world of any nation, over 127,000 and counting. Face it, Trump screwed up. The USA is now a pariah as far as international travel goes, and will be for some time.

You're parotting the Thai government line. Really? Still thousands of Chinese tourists before the borders closed. Then the exodus from Bangkok to the rural villages on crowded buses of the people who were fired from the hotels, bars and restaurants. The virus itself could not have come up with a better strategy for distribution. Now they want to invite the Chinese back to save the tourist industry, go figure.

IMO there are a number of environmental and biological factors, not yet understood, which saved Thailand from catastrophe. Giving the Thai government credit for that, when they have one of the worst road tolls in the world, is complete BS.

 

The anti-Trump stuff is boring and gets too much attention, especially when you consider the topic of this thread. I don't give a rat's <deleted> for the guy but yawn when the righteous find any excuse to wind up again. 

How am I parotting Thai govt? Do the Thai's routinely wear face masks or not? And studies show how effective they are, though has taken a while for WHO and Western authorities to recognise. Now they're encouraging them in Britain, Australia and US amongst others, but culturally is proving difficult. No so in Thailand or Asia generally. Got little to do with Thai government except they mandated farang to fall into line, didn't they? 

I visited a Thai village early March and the local nurse was onto me like a flash. A health volunteer obtained my flight details, copy passport etc and was passed onto the nurse and up the line. Did you read the Reuters coverage on the health volunteers? I've read posters on this forum who deny they exist, don't know what rock they live under.

So a number of "environmental and biological factors" saved Thailand eh? So fact that the infected went straight into hospital as well as their contacts (most countries just isolated those voluntarily), face masks, and health volunteers just a sideshow? Let me know when you discover these mythical "environmental and biological factors".

[Brunolem]

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

You've obviously never been in the back room of a Thai restaurant, where the cooking is done. One thing about face masks, it's probably reduced the national pastime of nose-picking.

And he has never given a look to the roadsides (used as landfills)...

[Brunolem]

1 minute ago, Donga said:

I visited a Thai village early March and the local nurse was onto me like a flash. A health volunteer obtained my flight details, copy passport etc and was passed onto the nurse and up the line. Did you read the Reuters coverage on the health volunteers? I've read posters on this forum who deny they exist, don't know what rock they live under.

Not my village for sure.

 

No local nurse here and there hasn't been even one meeting, in the village meeting room, about covid 19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

 

As for the health volunteers, I am learning about their existence from you.

 

Having said that, Thailand has certainly gotten far better results than the hapless Western countries, but similar or even better results have been obtained by its neighbors.