It’s just too risky to allow foreign tourists to visit Thailand, says top Thai doctor

[LNKDES1]

4 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

Agree with him, UK, US, Brazil and India as examples should be kept out for now

Let's not forget Russia too.

[smudger1951]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Don't forget Russia. 

Don't forget everybody else. Funny how the farang prejudices surface to slag off other nations.

[Berti]

20 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

 

I don't think Thailand avoided anything.

 

Looking at the excess deaths from DoPA data, there seems to be 10-15k excess starting from May 2019. Combine that with the D614G mutation time (Pre-March 2020) and the fact that the world only woke up to the virus in January 2020 when CCP finally released the information. Then add this...

https://judithcurry.com/2020/05/10/why-herd-immunity-to-covid-19-is-reached-much-earlier-than-thought/

 

It's plausible the D614 swept through Thailand in late 2019/ early 2020 and nobody really noticed. It was before the social media started getting manic about it.

Very unlikely that 10k people die with certain symptoms and nobody notices.

 

[transam]

14 minutes ago, amdy2206 said:

Risk, or bancrupcy for many and poverty for millions!! I am sure the doctor is in neither category. All these people advocating keeping tourists out are wealthy and still working - the rest can go to hell for all they care. 

That includes some "I'm alright Jack" posters here.....????

[mikey00]

4 hours ago, CALSinCM said:

Covid is a death sentence.  Better safe than sorry!!!

What are you talking about, have you looked at the stats? 

 

Almost identical rates of death to the flu.

 

 

 

[Bartlyb]

Countries as ???????? and Brazil totally ignored recommendations from doctors and were forced to reopen by dictator like leaders. No quarantine rules, very poor regulation and enforcement of their own rules. My family lives in Khonkaen and I am planning to build a home over there. I would gladly take the covid test and quarantine for 14 days. 

[jimmjam]

Says a doctor who probably has loads of money saved . While normal thais who work in the tourism sector are hanging by a thread.

What happened to all this covid testing machinery they have and want to install in airports.

[Jay6815]

5 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

Agree with him, UK, US, Brazil and India as examples should be kept out for now

UK can not be used as an example have you actually done any research UK cases have more than halved since lockdown was lifted so far it was successful 

[VBF]

2 hours ago, Brunolem said:

The "sponsors" do it! 

These are the farangs who send between 20,000 and 60,000 baht every month to a go-go girl in exchange for... exclusivity!!! 

Yes, I know, but this is real. 

Problem is that there are not enough of these "sponsors". 

 

I know one guy who has no less than 3 girls under his sponsorship program... 

A fool and his money........????

[NoComment]

Damned if you do

Damned if you don't

[paulikens]

5 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

Agree with him, UK, US, Brazil and India as examples should be kept out for now

@canopus1969 let me guess you're already in thailand? im alright jack brigade.

[Berti]

4 minutes ago, Bartlyb said:

Countries as ???????? and Brazil totally ignored recommendations from doctors and were forced to reopen by dictator like leaders. No quarantine rules, very poor regulation and enforcement of their own rules. My family lives in Khonkaen and I am planning to build a home over there. I would gladly take the covid test and quarantine for 14 days. 

I agree they did a bad job, but to me it seems it was not forced to them. Many refuse to wear a mask.

 

Maybe the strategy will pay off economically but with many dead people (admittedly most of them old people).

At 65% infection rate it will stop to spread.

For the USA: 215 million infected.

Latest research from Germany: About 0,25% die, so 430.000 dead in the USA.

 

What is interesting about this disease: The life expectancy in Germany is 81 years. Average age of people who died with Covid-19 is 81 years.

The hard conclusion: On average there is no change.

[Isaan sailor]

If they cannot save tourism—they should focus their efforts on saving industry, specifically exports for now and the future.

Relax the Baht any way possible.  Push conversational English at all grade schools,  improve infrastructure, and offer tax reductions to entice multinationals as well as local manufacturers.

[Bangkok Barry]

He does have a point, even though the consequences could be dire. I recommend post #14 above. Unfortunately, that's the way it is. The world of 2020 is not the same as 2019. The pandemic is still growing in many countries, there is no cure, no vaccine for many months in the future and there may never be. The world has changed and will continue to change. Life as we knew it is finished for the foreseeable future. Few outside of Asia where masks have long been a normal way of life will want to go to restaurants or bars or any other entertainment places wearing one. No pleasure in that, of being forced to keep a distance from others as if they are carrying the plague, but that is the future for us now.

[Berti]

13 minutes ago, VBF said:

A fool and his money........????

If both are happy with it and do it voluntary: Why not, it's their business.

[Captor]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Not risky at all. You do a reliable, instant test at the airport. At the tourists expense. Even asymptomatic people test positive. Where is the risk? Positive folks go directly into quarantine, at their expense. 

Only positive folks go to Quarantine?

[Mikeasq60]

Is this the only expert in all of Thailand theirs no other scientific answers or is he the company doctor?

[Magenta408]

There are more deaths during long holiday drive-about than the flu or corono virus. Ban all vehicles and motorcycles.

[mikeymike100]

5 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Don't forget Russia. 

And of course China!!!@

[sjaak327]

It is easy for him to say, he still has a job... Of course judging from his remarks, I believe he is making connections that aren't there. The US for instance, didn't flare back up because of foreign tourists, but because the various state and federal governments have utterly failed to contain the virus in the first place. Foreign tourists are not the cause of the spike there.

 

It is pretty easy, considering the fact that the whole tourism industry is on it's back in Thailand, it certainly is worth the risk. Hoping that "domestic tourism" is going to make up for the huge losses is a pipe dream, never going to happen. In case he hasn't noticed, there are a few million Thais that are out of a job, and continue to be jobless, unless tourism is allowed to restart again. It is pretty simple, the EU is allowing certain tourists in at the moment, and that is what Thailand should do as well, tourists from "low risk countries" and with social distancing already in place, the risk of a massive resurgence is tiny. In fact the EU has 're-opened" since about six to seven weeks already and there are no sign of significant spikes in number of cases. It can be done, and in my view it should be done, six more months without tourists is something that will hurt the Thai economy as a whole, or in this case, the cure could be well worse than the disease. But I understand, it is easy for him to say, he still has a salary. 

[jacko45k]

3 hours ago, innosiem said:

i do not know anyone that knows a single person that has got "the virus" let alone died because of it (here, back home or anywhere)

However, i do know
a neighbor just sadly took their own life due to the economic pressures caused by the lockdowns and other "measures"

so if they do actually "want to save lives"
they need to re-open everything asap, as it will only become more common
as people struggle to find the means to live

 

So the reported 570,000 deaths is a fabrication?

Because you didn't know any of them?

[sjaak327]

15 minutes ago, Captor said:

Only positive folks go to Quarantine?

Precisely, what's the point of quarantining people that just tested negative ? This is exactly what Thailand should do, test on entry, quarantine for a day, until the test results come back, unquarantine the tourists that test negative, quarantine the ones that tested postive. That way people are also not dissuaded from traveling, because if they have to go into quarantine for a full two weeks (even if they tested negative), nobody will show up. It is hardly rocket science. 

Edited July 13, 2020 by sjaak327

[Caldera]

I take it the good doctor's income doesn't depend on foreign tourists.

 

[PingRoundTheWorld]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The incubation period for the virus can be at least two weeks and even longer in some cases. There's a reason health authorities around the world have generally settled on the two-week quarantine period.

No, they settled for two weeks because they didn't have enough research to know the best quarantine period back in March-April. Now they do have research out and in most cases people develop symptoms within days, and in 99% of cases before the 10th day. Quarantining longer than that is not necessary, and if you have test results covering about 10 days all negative then quarantine isn't even necessary at all.

[Captor]

3 minutes ago, sjaak327 said:

Precisely, what's the point of quarantining people that just tested negative ? This is exactly what Thailand should do, test on entry, quarantine for a day, until the test results come back, unquarantine the tourists that test negative, quarantine the ones that tested postive. That way people are also not dissuaded from traveling, because if they have to go into quarantine for a full two weeks (even if they tested negative), nobody will show up. It is hardly rocket science. 

It SHOULD be like that, yes, I agree to that.

[Jingthing]

7 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

And of course China!!!@

That's debatable.

Russia, the US, and Brazil aren't. 

[Mikeasq60]

16 minutes ago, Magenta408 said:

There are more deaths during long holiday drive-about than the flu or corono virus. Ban all vehicles and motorcycles.

You stole my words

[american2]

If it is too risky to allow foreign nationals to enter Thaiand  isn't it too risky to send the foreign nationals still inThailand back to their home countries.  Thailand extend their Visa's.

[Mikeasq60]

7 minutes ago, sjaak327 said:

Precisely, what's the point of quarantining people that just tested negative ? This is exactly what Thailand should do, test on entry, quarantine for a day, until the test results come back, unquarantine the tourists that test negative, quarantine the ones that tested postive. That way people are also not dissuaded from traveling, because if they have to go into quarantine for a full two weeks (even if they tested negative), nobody will show up. It is hardly rocket science. 

I would quarantine for 2 weeks to be with my wife. For the Chinese there's going to be a major reckoning coming for years to come!

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, american2 said:

If it is too risky to allow foreign nationals to enter Thaiand  isn't it too risky to send the foreign nationals still inThailand back to their home countries.  Thailand extend their Visa's.

Hardly relevant.... one case involves people leaving a low infection country, to head to a high infection one, and returning to their country of birth or domicile. The other, is exact opposite.