More People Ignore Face Masks

 

 

NONTHABURI, Oct 30 (TNA) — Health authorities urge people to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus by regularly wearing face masks as a survey has found only 67.1% of respondents are using them.

 

Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, permanent secretary for public health, said the local COVID-19 situation was under control because new patients were mostly quarantined arrivals. More than 50% of the patients were young people and people at working ages, between 20 and 49 years old, and were asymptomatic. They usually travelled and thus posed high chances of disease transmission, he said.

 

Full Story: https://tna.mcot.net/english-news-573911

 

-- © Copyright TNA 2020-10-30

 

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says the permanent secretary for public health without setting an example and wearing a mask ...

Once again a case of do what i say, not as i do.????

Just shows the arrogance of those supposedly running the country.

Lead by example, ha, ha, ha.

Hardly anyone around Chiang Mai wearing face masks, they're just on for 7-11/Tesco/Malls and off the instant they're out.

Me too.

29 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Hardly anyone around Chiang Mai wearing face masks, they're just on for 7-11/Tesco/Malls and off the instant they're out.

Me too.

Once away from likely hotspots and in the open, it's probably a reasonable approach at the moment. 

13 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

says the permanent secretary for public health without setting an example and wearing a mask ...

Perhaps he had it on just before doing the announcement?  That's what many do before press briefings.

There is no reason to wear them if well distanced and outside.

But inside, they should still be worn.

Eventually Thailand will need to open up more and more of the virus will be coming in.

Continuing with mitigation measures over the next probably two years while the vaccine(s) take effect will be the only way for Thailand (and other countries) to avoid falling into massive even exponential infection. It's not that big a deal. Just wear the freakin' masks. 

15 hours ago, colinneil said:

Once again a case of do what i say, not as i do.????

Just shows the arrogance of those supposedly running the country.

Lead by example, ha, ha, ha.

That's not fair. You don't know the setting there of that statement. 

In Pattaya, I'd say 60-70% still wear them outside (50% walking the beach promenade); in most shopping malls and retail stores they're required but in other service businesses (massage, barbers, restos) they're not.

24 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

That's not fair. You don't know the setting there of that statement. 

Kinda like when Trump said Lesley Stahl wasn't wearing a mask. She did the entire time inside the WH, except when doing the interview with him.

 

Misleading for sure.

There is (officially) no COVID in Thailand.  What are the masks for?

 

From Holland:

'Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence,' said Coen Berends, spokesman for the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. 'There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.'

16 minutes ago, Mises said:

There is (officially) no COVID in Thailand.  What are the masks for?

 

From Holland:

'Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence,' said Coen Berends, spokesman for the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. 'There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.'

You know there is no virus in Thailand how exactly?

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

20 minutes ago, Mises said:

There is (officially) no COVID in Thailand.  What are the masks for?

 

From Holland:

'Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence,' said Coen Berends, spokesman for the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. 'There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.'

 

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

You know there is no virus in Thailand how exactly?

Mises did not say that he knows there is no virus here. He said, officially there is no virus here.

 

No matter, I agree with him. If there is no hard evidence of the virus being in the community, why are we still wearing them? I don't wear one unless I'm required to, which isn't very often.

i found out one beside advantage by wearing them  ...….. I don't need to shave so often anymore...????

45 minutes ago, Mises said:

There is (officially) no COVID in Thailand.  What are the masks for?

 

From Holland:

'Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence,' said Coen Berends, spokesman for the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. 'There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.'

You've taken his comments out of context. 

=================================

"Holland's position is based on assessments by the Outbreak Management Team, a group of experts advising the government. It first ruled against masks in May and has re-evaluated the evidence several times, including again last week.

It believes they detract from a clear three-pronged message that has kept deaths from coronavirus down to less than half the rate in Britain: wash hands regularly, maintain social distancing of 1.5 metres and stay at home if suffering any symptoms.

The one exception outside of the medical frontline has been on public transport, where masks are mandatory on the basis it is difficult to stay apart on crowded buses, ferries and trains. 'We have seen this approach works,' said Christian Hoebe, a professor of infectious diseases in Maastricht and member of the advisory team. 'Face masks should not be seen as a magic bullet that halts the spread.

'The evidence for them is contradictory. In general, we think you must be careful with face masks because they can give a false sense of security. People think they're immune from disease or stop social distancing. That is very negative.'

50 minutes ago, Mises said:

There is (officially) no COVID in Thailand.  What are the masks for?

 

From Holland:

'Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence,' said Coen Berends, spokesman for the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. 'There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.'

And things seem to be working out so well for you there...

Seems to me that masks are now being used in much the same way as crash helmets. Mostly worn just to pass a check-point .

17 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Hardly anyone around Chiang Mai wearing face masks, they're just on for 7-11/Tesco/Malls and off the instant they're out.

Me too.

I'm living in Chiang Mai province (Amphur Chaiprakan) and it's the same here. Most people don't bother with masks anymore and neither with social distancing. Every week there's some party in our village. 

 

I think it's a good thing. The whole covid scare is way overblown. 

1 minute ago, wolf81 said:

I'm living in Chiang Mai province (Amphur Chaiprakan) and it's the same here. Most people don't bother with masks anymore and neither with social distancing. Every week there's some party in our village. 

 

I think it's a good thing. The whole covid scare is way overblown. 

If you live here, you can feel that way.  In the West, where the virus is raging and hundreds are dying every day?  It's hardly overblown.  I was just notified 2 of my friends are now sick.  More to add to the growing list.

8 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

If you live here, you can feel that way.  In the West, where the virus is raging and hundreds are dying every day?  It's hardly overblown.  I was just notified 2 of my friends are now sick.  More to add to the growing list.

I also believe in the West it's overblown. And the actions done by governments are destroying economies. And without economies there's less money to pay for things like healthcare.

 

The best thing was always to just allow "young" people back to school / work and protect people that are vulnerable (old people, people with diabetes, etc...). For most "young" (0-49) people the virus is asymptomatic (they won't know they had it, or very mild disease). 

 

Even the WHO statistics recently stated that the disease isn't much more deadly than a heavy flu. We never locked up our economies for the flu. Neither we should for covid.

 

I would also add that my nearby Amphur has a "Chinatown" part. Many Chinese living in this area. There's quite some Chinese people having businesses, including some import/export business in my village. No way covid wasn't already in Thailand in December 2019. I'm quite sure me and my family had it in January, as I had symptoms similar to the flu but for the first time in my life with some weird kind of pain in my throat.

11 minutes ago, wolf81 said:

I also believe in the West it's overblown. And the actions done by governments are destroying economies. And without economies there's less money to pay for things like healthcare.

 

The best thing was always to just allow "young" people back to school / work and protect people that are vulnerable (old people, people with diabetes, etc...). For most "young" (0-49) people the virus is asymptomatic (they won't know they had it, or very mild disease). 

 

Even the WHO statistics recently stated that the disease isn't much more deadly than a heavy flu. We never locked up our economies for the flu. Neither we should for covid.

 

I would also add that my nearby Amphur has a "Chinatown" part. Many Chinese living in this area. There's quite some Chinese people having businesses, including some import/export business in my village. No way covid wasn't already in Thailand in December 2019. I'm quite sure me and my family had it in January, as I had symptoms similar to the flu but for the first time in my life with some weird kind of pain in my throat.

Medical experts would disagree with you.  Vigorously.

 

Please, don't compare this to the flu.  That's a dog whistle for covid deniers.

18 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Hardly anyone around Chiang Mai wearing face masks, they're just on for 7-11/Tesco/Malls and off the instant they're out.

Me too.

Same in my neck of the woods, masks are a thing of the past, local temple has a Loy Krathong market for 9 days, just had a stroll around, vendors using no masks or screens, visitors much the same. Social distancing what's that?

 

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

You know there is no virus in Thailand how exactly?

Because our all seeing and knowing leader has told us, so please pay attention ????

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

 

 

Questionable source.

That article is clearly anti mask propaganda. 

 

 

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-federalist/

• Overall, we rate The Federalist a borderline Questionable and far-Right Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that always favor the right. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to the promotion of pseudoscience and three failed fact checks.

the only thing questionable are the fact checkers and who is funding them.  These guys aren't independent fact checkers.  

 

Now, back to those graphs, do you think they were just made up, or was the data pulled from the various public health websites?

57 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

Medical experts would disagree with you.  Vigorously.

 

Please, don't compare this to the flu.  That's a dog whistle for covid deniers.

I will compare it with the flu regardless.

 

Quote from a recent peer-reviewed WHO paper:

 

Quote

Infection fatality rates ranged from 0.00% to 1.63%, corrected values from 0.00% to 1.54%. Across 51 locations, the median COVID-19 infection fatality rate was 0.27% (corrected 0.23%): the rate was 0.09% in locations with COVID-19 population mortality rates less than the global average (< 118 deaths/million), 0.20% in locations with 118–500 COVID-19 deaths/million people and 0.57% in locations with > 500 COVID-19 deaths/million people. In people < 70 years, infection fatality rates ranged from 0.00% to 0.31% with crude and corrected medians of 0.05%.

 

To compare with flu fatality rates, we can check historic data in Wikipedia:

 

Quote

Name                                  Date                   Case fatality rate
1889–90 flu pandemic    1889–90            0.10–0.28%
1918 flu                              1918–20            2–3%, or ~4%, or ~10%
Asian flu                             1957–58            <0.2%
Hong Kong flu                   1968–69            <0.1%
2009 flu pandemic           2009–10            0.01%
Typical seasonal flu         Every year         <0.1%

 

So it seems the Covid disease has a fatality rate somewhere around a heavy flu pandemic (Asian flu, 1880-90 flu). And before you will tell me sometimes people could be permanently damaged by covid - the same happens with the flu:

 

Quote

 

Influenza's effects are much more severe and last longer than those of the common cold. Most people will recover completely in about one to two weeks, but others will develop life-threatening complications (such as pneumonia). Thus, influenza can be deadly, especially for the weak, young and old, those with compromised immune systems, or the chronically ill.[79] People with a weak immune system, such as people with advanced HIV infection or transplant recipients (whose immune systems are medically suppressed to prevent transplant organ rejection), suffer from particularly severe disease.[171] Pregnant women and young children are also at a high risk for complications.[172]

The flu can worsen chronic health problems. People with emphysema, chronic bronchitis or asthma may experience shortness of breath while they have the flu, and influenza may cause worsening of coronary heart disease or congestive heart failure.[173] Smoking is another risk factor associated with more serious disease and increased mortality from influenza.[146]

Even healthy people can be affected, and serious problems from influenza can happen at any age. People over 65 years old, pregnant women, very young children and people of any age with chronic medical conditions are more likely to get complications from influenza, such as pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus, and ear infections.[174]

 

 

2 hours ago, david555 said:

i found out one beside advantage by wearing them  ...….. I don't need to shave so often anymore...????

Don’t be ashamed of what’s natural on your body. The only people that dislike facial hair are the ones that can’t grow it properly.

2 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

You've taken his comments out of context. 

=================================

"Holland's position is based on assessments by the Outbreak Management Team, a group of experts advising the government. It first ruled against masks in May and has re-evaluated the evidence several times, including again last week.

It believes they detract from a clear three-pronged message that has kept deaths from coronavirus down to less than half the rate in Britain: wash hands regularly, maintain social distancing of 1.5 metres and stay at home if suffering any symptoms.

The one exception outside of the medical frontline has been on public transport, where masks are mandatory on the basis it is difficult to stay apart on crowded buses, ferries and trains. 'We have seen this approach works,' said Christian Hoebe, a professor of infectious diseases in Maastricht and member of the advisory team. 'Face masks should not be seen as a magic bullet that halts the spread.

'The evidence for them is contradictory. In general, we think you must be careful with face masks because they can give a false sense of security. People think they're immune from disease or stop social distancing. That is very negative.'

Yes, bullet proof vests during a gun fight probably give people a bit more confidence too, but I would prey reasonable people would agree it is probably better to have them on.

 

My god how does so much of this stuff become arguable? 

3 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

In Pattaya, I'd say 60-70% still wear them outside (50% walking the beach promenade); in most shopping malls and retail stores they're required but in other service businesses (massage, barbers, restos) they're not.

Yes people walk into Starbucks and it’s a mask free zone for gods sake , People can’t wait to get their first drink and walk around mall mask less 

Wearing a mask probably does little or nothing as so many experts state. It is being used by governments as they need to be seen doing something. I suppose though it gives those needlessly hiding in their basements some comfort.

From my experience of living in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I guess only 20% (if that) of people WEAR face masks outdoors. The wearing of face-masks in Cambodia has never been mandatory, only recommended. Even before Covid-19, many people here wear masks to prevent inhaling dust from dirt roads, especially during the dry season. Personally, I do not wear a face mask unless requested to do so at some entertainment venues such as the Phare Cambodian Circus Arena. Cambodia's latest figures:-

Cambodia

Total cases 291

Recovered 283

Deaths 0