No one knows what Thailand is doing right, but so far, it’s working

[webfact]

No one knows what Thailand is doing right, but so far, it’s working

 

File photo

 

BANGKOK — No one knows exactly why Thailand has been spared.

 

Is it the social distancing embedded in Thai culture — the habit of greeting others with a wai, a prayer-like motion, rather than a full embrace — that has prevented the runaway transmission of the coronavirus there?

 

Did Thailand’s early adoption of face masks, combined with a robust health care system, blunt the virus’s impact? Was it the outdoor lifestyle of many Thais or their relatively low rates of pre-existing conditions?

 

Is there a genetic component in which the immune systems of Thais and others in the Mekong River region are more resistant to the coronavirus? Or is it some alchemy of all these factors that has insulated this country of 70 million people?

Full story: https://www.todayonline.com/world/no-one-knows-what-thailand-doing-right-so-far-its-working

 

-- TODAY 2020 07-20

[Kadilo]

Robust health system, relatively low rates of pre-existing conditions?

 

or maybe “Questions are also being raised about why migrant workers who were deported from Thailand arrived home and immediately tested positive for the disease, despite not being included in the official Thai count of coronavirus cases. Thailand’s testing rates remain relatively low.“

Potentially 8million to lose their jobs. Scary stuff. Let’s see if over 90% still dont want foreigners tourists coming then. 

Edited July 19, 2020 by Kadilo

[RichardColeman]

26 minutes ago, webfact said:

Did Thailand’s early adoption of face masks, combined with a robust health care system, blunt the virus’s impact? Was it the outdoor lifestyle of many Thais or their relatively low rates of pre-existing conditions? Is there a genetic component in which the immune systems of Thais and others in the Mekong River region are more resistant to the coronavirus? Or is it some alchemy of all these factors that has insulated this country of 70 million people?

UK

294,792

+726

45,300

+27

N/A

N/A

142

4,341

667

13,293,523

195,771

67,903,554

Thailand

3,249

+3

58

3,096

95

1

47

0.8

603,657

8,647

69,808,827

Nope, they just don't test anyone - uk 13.3 million tests (20% of population), Thailand 603,00 (0.8% of population). Don't test, you don;t find them.

 

It's also probably the reason why Thailand is not thought of as a covid free country by the UK government

 

 

Edited July 19, 2020 by RichardColeman

[SkyFax]

23 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

“Questions are also being raised about why migrant workers who were deported from Thailand arrived home and immediately tested positive for the disease,

Immediately?

 

The 23 of 35 Burmese migrants who tested positive exited Thailand on June 8 but they were reported as testing COVID positive as of June 19 per this June 19, 2020, Irriwaddy report.

 

https://www.irrawaddy.com/specials/myanmar-covid-19/myanmar-sees-largest-covid-19-spike-migrants-deported-thailand-test-positive.html

Edited July 19, 2020 by SkyFax

[Shuya]

Simple, just don't test people with pneumonia for covid ????

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

s there a genetic component in which the immune systems of Thais and others in the Mekong River region are more resistant to the coronavirus? Or is it some alchemy of all these factors that has insulated this country of 70 million people?

 

Didn't someone recently test 1,000 Thais and find 20% had COVID anti-bodies?

I'd say it's Thailands government lying that produces the good results.

 

Edited July 19, 2020 by BritManToo

[yellowboat]

It appears that if you have a healthy diet and no existing ailments, the virus is either unnoticable or acts just like the flu and is gone in a few days.  Other than businesses struggling, normalcy is returning to Saigon.   

[mooseman]

35 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Didn't someone recently test 1,000 Thais and find 20% had COVID anti-bodies?

I'd say it's Thailands government lying that produces the good results.

 

They tested 100 000 personnel from hospitals and transportation looking for antibodies, 20 000 had antibodies.

 

https://bangkokherald.com/coronavirus/new-evidence-casts-doubts-on-accuracy-of-thailands-official-coronavirus-statistics/

[H1w4yR1da]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

a robust health care system

LOL!

[sweatalot]

1 hour ago, Shuya said:

Simple, just don't test people with pneumonia for covid ????

This would mean the virus is far from being as deadly as reported everywhere - otherwise the death rate in Thailand would increase strikingly 

 

 

[jaiyen]

We all know that Thai government are big liars, so I don't believe any of their figures. The only thing they do better than the rest of the world is road crash deaths. 

[innosiem]

the flu is not that common here either
what a coincidence????‍♂️

for the scared people who believe all the draconian measures here are justified based on the governments words being true
then the official numbers from the government here must also be true
cannot have it both ways.

that article is far from reality though (Thai news and social media and TVF rants confirm this lol)
yes pointless measures and rules are being followed by biz and schools
as people are desperate to get back to living asap without any issues with authorities

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by innosiem

[dinsdale]

The only thing in this article that is correct is mask wearing. The rest is nonsence. The reason why many other counties have high numbers is directly linked to the number of tests. Don't look for the virus then you won't find it.

[mjakob007]

Masks and social distancing may have helped.

Not testing unless critically ill would have certainly helped.

 

There were indications of 7 asymptomatic infections for each identified infection and this number should follow a geometric progression. 

[chrisinth]

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

UK

294,792

+726

45,300

+27

N/A

N/A

142

4,341

667

13,293,523

195,771

67,903,554

Thailand

3,249

+3

58

3,096

95

1

47

0.8

603,657

8,647

69,808,827

Nope, they just don't test anyone - uk 13.3 million tests (20% of population), Thailand 603,00 (0.8% of population). Don't test, you don;t find them.

 

It's also probably the reason why Thailand is not thought of as a covid free country by the UK government

 

 

Yes, IMO testing is important, but the proof of the crisis is in the hospitalizations and the fatality count. Testing alone does not increase these numbers.

 

With that in mind, check those figures against both countries. Again, testing does not increase the death numbers.

[chrisinth]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Is there a genetic component in which the immune systems of Thais and others in the Mekong River region are more resistant to the coronavirus?

I wonder does this theory include foreigners who have lived here for 10, 15, 20 years?

 

The same way that it takes the average foreigner 21 days to acclimatize to life in Thailand?

 

Or are we a risk? 

[JCP108]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Didn't someone recently test 1,000 Thais and find 20% had COVID anti-bodies?

I'd say it's Thailands government lying that produces the good results.

 

It was 100,000 and 20% positive.

 

https://bangkokherald.com/coronavirus/new-evidence-casts-doubts-on-accuracy-of-thailands-official-coronavirus-statistics/

[ChakaKhan]

1 Easy to stay covid free as thais wont touch me unless I pay to play...even tho it may be hard for the Uni gals with me being so hansum!

 

2- Sangsom consumption....kills everything it comes in contact with..miracle cure hidden in plain sight!!

 

3-  I would say year round masks, wai-no handshakes--not much PDA---extreme heat--thais being tidy certainly must help

 

4 I usually stay for 4 months at a time and I rarely, if at all have physical contact with anyone, apart from basic small talk ordering food and joop joop teelak---where u go?. I go with you..you so hansum!!!! 555

[sezze]

I do not think this nr is correct but it doesn't matter anyway . What does matter and is noticed is that people , even if infected or not , are certainly less suspect to be in hospitals then in many other countries . Lets say the nrs are completely fraud ... i can relate , but if this was the case then nrs in public hospitals should sore to a point where they cant handle the load . This means to 2 possibble answers . A the nrs are not there , or B they got a lot of infections but they do not get as sick as other people on the planet . Im guessing on option B , and that would be a genetic thing which makes them less vulnerable to it then others on this planet . The reason why is unknown , maybe the virus is from this part of the world ( not forget cambodia , laos , vietnam got very low nrs also way lower then the rest of the world , even China is surprising low vs amount of people even taken account of the nrs which might be untrue ) . Why it is ... well im very sure scientist are trying to work it out , since it is certainly noticed all around why those nrs in this side of the world are so low .

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

No one knows what Thailand is doing right, but so far, it’s working

Obviously not talking about the economy then !

[Srikcir]

2 hours ago, innosiem said:

the flu is not that common here either
what a coincidence????‍♂️

for the scared people who believe all the draconian measures here are justified based on the governments words being true
then the official numbers from the government here must also be true
cannot have it both ways.

that article is far from reality though (Thai news and social media and TVF rants confirm this lol)
yes pointless measures and rules are being followed by biz and schools
as people are desperate to get back to living asap without any issues with authorities

 

"flu not common here either"

Maybe because there's a vaccine for the three most virulent strains?

[alant]

Believe the figures or not, the evidence is there is a low rate of acute symptom cases here in Thailand, the hospitals are not overflowing and the cremation rates are not going through the roof.

Is it working?

Is it that there is little Covid here because it has been kept at bay? If so the big worry must be that there a huge pool of potential for infection, Thailand could be a delayed time bomb waiting to happen.

Or, as asymptomatic cases are not tested for, there are millions and millions of asymptomatic people out there, which I would say is great? Have the virus but it does you no harm... Wonderful

Or does the environment, lots of sunshine leading to decent vit D levels and rapid death / deactivation of the virus on droplets make transmission very difficult?

 

 

[rocksniffer]

[JCP108]

1 hour ago, sezze said:

 Lets say the nrs are completely fraud ... i can relate , but if this was the case then nrs in public hospitals should sore to a point where they cant handle the load . 

Nope. I worked in healthcare for two decades. Like any other business, a hospital can easily accomodate an extra 10% of business without exploding (or dead people popping out of the windows). The only people who know the difference between 80% full and 90% full are the people with access to the aggregate reports (and those people in Thailand aren't reporting). It really is the case that a country can fly along with 10% more deaths than normal and not have to hide anything. They just don't report it. So, the no-mounds-of-dead-bodies-therefore-no-lies argument is not sound.

[poskat]

the antibody tests are not covid-19 specific, and can be due to any of a number of prior corona type virus infections

 

the infection fatality  and per capita fatality rates are the most important indicator this deep into an outbreak

in thailand these are less than 2% and 1 out of 1,000,000, respectively

[JCP108]

1 minute ago, poskat said:

the antibody tests are not covid-19 specific, and can be due to any of a number of prior corona type virus infections

 

the infection fatality  and per capita fatality rates are the most important indicator this deep into an outbreak

in thailand these are less than 2% and 1 out of 1,000,000, respectively

Probably legit numbers being reported.

[Emdog]

2 hours ago, chrisinth said:

Yes, IMO testing is important, but the proof of the crisis is in the hospitalizations and the fatality count. Testing alone does not increase these numbers.

 

With that in mind, check those figures against both countries. Again, testing does not increase the death numbers.

Check numbers of "excess deaths"... not right up to date, but there are numbers during lock down around 2400 a month that does lead a person to ask "hmm what caused those?". Doubt it was traffic... scroll down to Thailand and see what you think. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53073046

[SkyFax]

11 minutes ago, JCP108 said:

Like any other business, a hospital can easily accomodate an extra 10% of business without exploding (or dead people popping out of the windows).

Sure but the Covid-19 infections tend to appear in clusters not evenly spread out so that a large number of hospitals show a marginal increase in caseload.

[tomauasia]

You are all in dream land. Thailand lies.

[Grumpy John]

Let's get real with the numbers of dead.  58 is the official number.  Some people say "oh, the number must be accurate, the government would not lie"  BS.  The government could lie and you and I  wouldn't have a clue.   In a country with 39883 wats and a population of close to 70 million people an extra 1000 funerals is not going to stand out.  Make that 10.000 and it still won't stand out.  Died of a heart attack, died from pneumonia, died from blood poisoning is on the death certificate.