3 hours ago, Oldie said:

I just can talk about Pattaya. The people care less and less. Often no masks and temperature checks anymore. And at the entertainment industry they don't seem to care at all. When I walk around at night I see that no regulations are obeyed and enforced. Many bars even don't care about the legal closing times anymore and are open as long as they like it. I can't believe that the police and the City Hall doesn't know about this. It is impossible not to see it. But they seem to accept all this. I guess if the virus comes to Pattaya we will have a Problem...

Its the same situation the world over. Thats why we are seeing these so called second wave spikes everywhere. Nobody follows instructions anywhere.

3 hours ago, Oldie said:

I just can talk about Pattaya. The people care less and less. Often no masks and temperature checks anymore. And at the entertainment industry they don't seem to care at all. When I walk around at night I see that no regulations are obeyed and enforced. Many bars even don't care about the legal closing times anymore and are open as long as they like it. I can't believe that the police and the City Hall doesn't know about this. It is impossible not to see it. But they seem to accept all this. I guess if the virus comes to Pattaya we will have a Problem...

Well guess what even here in Sydney Australia 80 to 90% do not wear masks and there are no spikes or rises in cases whatever you want to call it.

Maybe people can go on with their daily tasks without being muzzled.

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

The virus has already swept through Thailand in Nov / Dec / Jan.

I just looked it up and i was very sick in the last week of November,we visited Chatuchak

2 weeks before that.

So yes ,i do believe you have a point.

There will not be a second spike, Thai people have lived and survived with a plethora disease, possibly some similar to covid. Thai people appear to have an immune system that reacts well to covid given the death rate of the infected, excepting, as in most countries those who are not in good condition and lack a strong immune system

 

Throw in vitamin D levels topped up by climate, out door life, diet, and other factors of the Thai way of life, covidwill not present much of a problem to Thailand moving foward

 

 

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

With all of this being said, I do believe they have controlled the population well with the border closures and such, and know that had they not taken the actions they did it would have been much like Brazil, India, and even the US

agree .....  wait,  you wrote some common sense, I think I need another drink.  lol

cheers.

The question poll is to much oriented and can not reflect a true.

The question can become:

"Does Thailand government understand what is this virus and do what it can be done ?"

 

But most probably, like your question, mine is oriented and close.

A poll doesn't show nothing.

 

A good question is open and push answer to be write. MCQ USA papers for answer is terribly stupid and can be horribly oriented.

 

 

If you can say Thailand is keeping the virus under control with only testing only .03 % of the people. Then yes with little to no testing you can say it is under control.  The .03% is what I have read in 2 different reports.

The biggest problem facing Thailand now is they have no clue what happened. If they had been testing more they would have a better understanding of what has transpired over the last year and would be better informed to make a decision about what to do now. If what some on here are saying is true and Covid-19 ran through here already and they have a good measure of herd immunity they could open up right now and not worry about anything. Because they do not have this information, they have to proceed very cautiously because if it turns out that they actually did do an outstanding job keeping the virus out of the country their entire population is vulnerable to this virus. The Thailand government is currently trying to make decisions about something they have very little data about and I would guess they are terrified of making a mistake.

3 hours ago, abrahamzvi said:

Whether one agrees with the views of the protesters or not, I personally think, that this is the entirely wrong time to organize protests. The only, repeat only, important, yes absolutely vital, objects are the fight against the virus as well as somehow reviving the economy. All other differences should be put aside and all should unite in the struggle to achieve a success in this vital struggle.

I don't agree, the protesters are right, we have to get rid of these soldiers, get an elected peoples government in as soon as possible, as long as these soldiers are running the country, everything  including the virus is just going to get worse.

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

agree .....  wait,  you wrote some common sense, I think I need another drink.  lol

cheers.

Wait! Steven, it's not 5pm yet, hence the common sense.

I'm confident that they will continue to control the spread, with only minor/isolated outbreaks.

 

But the question needs to be asked: At what cost? Personally, I think they are overdoing it and this will cause too much long-term damage.

What about the 5th option that says it’s already there in far more numbers than they claim and to most people it is nothing but feeling sick a few days  like a flu or dengue type sickness and they recover !

Meanwhile it’s a good excuse to keep the rebels at bay who are starting to protest about the country !

4 hours ago, MRToMRT said:

Its the same situation the world over. Thats why we are seeing these so called second wave spikes everywhere. Nobody follows instructions anywhere.

That's what was being seen in Melbourne, people having parties, going surfing and buying yoghurt at their favorite store in breach of the instructions. Most notably, the infection clusters have been occurring with ethnic groups where communication failed, and suburbs with a high social and low economic footprint. In other words, guys getting together to drink beer and watch the footy. You can't fix stupid.

The Thai approach will work for now. Ten years from now when there is another wave Thailand will suffer greatly because of no herd immunity being built up now. The health community has been given 6 months to prepare, now it the time to start building herd immunity.

8 hours ago, baansgr said:

How can there be a spike and second wave...Thailand is virus free

Eventually they have to let people in and Thailand isn't totally virus-free. Put a country in a 6 months lockdown doesn't make people immune,either. 

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

That's what was being seen in Melbourne, people having parties, going surfing and buying yoghurt at their favorite store in breach of the instructions. Most notably, the infection clusters have been occurring with ethnic groups where communication failed, and suburbs with a high social and low economic footprint. In other words, guys getting together to drink beer and watch the footy. You can't fix stupid.

Thank you for a correct sensible post. But the know all's here say it's all ok.   lol

If they let in the 1200 people/month on the special visa program they will probably be able to monitor and contain reinfecting the population. The question remains how long can the country survive without tourism? Arguably any business related to tourism is already in serious jeopardy and cannot sustain a lockdown forever. 

We have seen the wisdom of the USA reopening to jump start the economy while Covid-19 was still out of control. Trillions of dollars wasted, 200,000+ dead and an economy in tatters. I don’t envy any leader that has to choose Between dollars or deaths. 

My answer is not mentioned.

9 hours ago, Rancid said:

I would suspect the limited testing kept the true numbers down, however as symptoms were generally mild it wasn't showing up as a pandemic. In fact in many countries if no testing was done then the death rate would have been ascribed to the flu and everyone would have ignored it.

 

For Thailand it depends how widely it has infected, if quite a bit then they may be at herd immunity, if not then it could take off. If the latter then they need keep the borders closed. If the former then tourism will be fine.

 

Mystifies me why no governments are testing anti-bodies to see how widespread the natural immunity already is, its almost like they are deliberately maintaining a state of fear. Either that or waiting for a vaccine means a well funded retirement.

The Netherlands are testing for anti-bodies, the first result shows that after 2/3 months the amount of them in the blood is reduced to a minimum.

In my opinion the Thai government is keeping the borders closed to prevent incoming tourist from getting infected. A loose of face for the self declared "medical hub".

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

That's what was being seen in Melbourne, people having parties, going surfing and buying yoghurt at their favorite store in breach of the instructions. Most notably, the infection clusters have been occurring with ethnic groups where communication failed, and suburbs with a high social and low economic footprint. In other words, guys getting together to drink beer and watch the footy. You can't fix stupid.

So yoghurt is prohibited ? Is it on the drugslist ?

14 hours ago, steven100 said:

Scott,   I believe the Thai government has done an exceptional job in the control of the virus through early evasive action.  However,  now with the protests yesterday where as the organizers did not heed Khun Prayut's warning and as such went ahead, I am sure there will be a spike and a second wave.

This unprofessional selfish and risky approach could have been avoided.

Sadly, they only have themselves to blame for further virus cases and extended border closures and airplane lockouts. 

I hear the second wave targets trolls , be afraid , be very afraid !

Who is actually saying that Thailand controlled Covid well , apart from the Thai government ?

Yes they imposed lockdowns ( but not earlier than pretty much every other country ) and they have completely isolated themselves.

That however simply puts them on a par with most of their neighbours.

There was zero initial testing so nobody has a firm idea ( well perhaps some but they are not talking ) of the initial impact of the virus , either in terms of deaths or infections . Testing was never ramped up to any great degree , so impossible to know how many were infected unknowingly , or still may be .

The closing of the borders has had a huge economic impact , devastatingly so in some sectors , yet the financial support has been minimal.

There seems to be no realistic effort to alleviate this problem , the government has spread fear and seems itself paralysed by it.

All in all a very average performance , maybe a C- , certainly need to do better.

3 hours ago, Albert Zweistein said:

So yoghurt is prohibited ? Is it on the drugslist ?

A limit of 5 km travel from home has been imposed for the Stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne. One woman was fined for travelling more than 5 km to buy her favorite yoghurt. A person who travelled 100 km so he could go surfing was also fined.

I'm not sure if you are trying to be funny.

14 hours ago, JusticeGB said:

According to worldometer only around 10,700 people in Thailand have been tested out of a population of over 69m so it's impossible to say with any accuracy how many people have had the virus. What is known is that about 65 people a day die from road accidents which is more than the total reported as having died from covid19 in the last 7 months. Less care is being taken in taking temperatures and many places are open until the early hours of the morning in Pattaya. Social distancing is not happening in bars and discos. If the virus is around it will spread quickly. 

Hmmm. more testing, more positives - so lets not test, then we will look good to the rest of the world.

The CV is most probably still around between the 440.000 Patient under Investigation,  growing at an average of a 1000 x day .

Now how many of this are CV or Seasonal Influenza or Dengue or Zica or Chicungigna or what ever et et ,  we will never know as they do not get tested till things get serious .

A positive signal is that we do not get info of Hospitals having issues .

Assume also that many try to avoid Hospitals to avoid quarantine and all what gets with it , testing families,  friends , working places , Expences.... et et 

14 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

5. The virus has already swept through Thailand in Nov / Dec / Jan.

 

-----

 

I suspect that spike in reported cases of Viral pneumonia in late 2019 / early 2020 was actually Covid-19 which had already swept through Thailand before lockdown. 

As with the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, nothing was really done at the time, increase cases and deaths spread across 1300 hospitals in Thailand never really made headlines.

Covid-19 became a massive issue for Thailand once Europe panicked. 

 

Thus: I suspect Thailand will encounter more cases when there are more test, but I suspect the vast majority of the population has some form of pre-existing immunity or has developed immunity from recent exposure prior to lockdown. 

 

 

As good an argument as any.

With so many Chinese entering Thailand each month there was bound to have been carriers transporting the virus here. And with such a high percentage of asymptomatics, might be difficult to ever prove but reasonable to suspect. By the time the borders were closed, it was too late to stop it from entering. 

I suspect that at some point they will let their guard down.  It's just sort of how things go in Thailand.  Mai pen rai kicks in at some point.   

 

The big problem is that the economic pain is quite hard to bare and Thailand is so firmly entrenched in the tourist industry it's hard to see it surviving without opening the borders.   

 

If a vaccine comes in the near future, then I think they will be OK.   

 

1 hour ago, Credo said:

The big problem is that the economic pain is quite hard to bare and Thailand is so firmly entrenched in the tourist industry it's hard to see it surviving without opening the borders. 

When the border opens and the COVID comes it will mean only one thing - nobody will come due to the outbreak.

 

Lose/Lose.

 

4 hours ago, joecoolfrog said:

I hear the second wave targets trolls , be afraid , be very afraid !

is that the best you can come up with.

4 hours ago, joecoolfrog said:

Who is actually saying that Thailand controlled Covid well , apart from the Thai government ?

Yes they imposed lockdowns ( but not earlier than pretty much every other country ) and they have completely isolated themselves.

That however simply puts them on a par with most of their neighbours.

There was zero initial testing so nobody has a firm idea ( well perhaps some but they are not talking ) of the initial impact of the virus , either in terms of deaths or infections . Testing was never ramped up to any great degree , so impossible to know how many were infected unknowingly , or still may be .

The closing of the borders has had a huge economic impact , devastatingly so in some sectors , yet the financial support has been minimal.

There seems to be no realistic effort to alleviate this problem , the government has spread fear and seems itself paralysed by it.

All in all a very average performance , maybe a C- , certainly need to do better.

I rate Thailand’s response to Covid-19 A+. They did 4 simple things-universally adopted wearing masks,

social distancing, hand washing/and hand sanitizer at every public location and strictly limiting the movement of people from one infected area to another. People adhered to the restrictions and death toll stands somewhere between 50-60 people. This is from a country who has limited resources compare to more economically developed nations. The most important metrics are per capital deaths, a population that feels safe and opening the economy back up. By all accounts Thailand ranks as one of the safest places to visit right now. Which developed country can make the same claim?