7 factories in Samut Sakhon sealed until end of February, no staff allowed to leave

[ThailandRyan]

19 minutes ago, ftpjtm said:

And my point is that expats and Thais can be subjected to similar circumstances. 

 

Expats and Thais on ASQ are sealed up in a facility and not allowed to go to their homes which may be nearby. 

 

Population centers with high COVID infection rates, inclusive of many expats, have had their movements severely restricted to minimize the spread of COVID. 

 

Segregating infected persons has not been carried out as forcefully in much of the western world, where infections are exponentially higher, and likely could not be because it would be illegal. 

 

Like it or not, that's the way the pandemic is being handled in Thailand. If you have a huge objection to it, you shouldn't be in Thailand. 

 

 

Think outside of the box.  These factory workers, the majority of them do not have Covid, nor have they tested positive and are not infected.  We are talking about thousands upon thousands of workers in 7 factories here.  You still do not get it, and you cannot compare an expat or a Thai to the situation the migrant workers are facing.  Drastically different, ASQ versus locked into a factory, not a tent city.  Additionally, do not tell me where I should be if I object to human rights violations.  Glad you see slavery and imprisonment as ok, must be fine from where you have originally come from and it is not the USA, and wherever your ethnic origins come from it must be seen as also being ok.

Edited February 4, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[AlfHuy]

Where is the "Myanmar" ambassador?

They just accept that their own people are treated like that?

[AlfHuy]

ftpjtm.

Hope you will get locked up somewhere for a couple of weeks too.

[oldhippy]

2 hours ago, AlfHuy said:

Where is the "Myanmar" ambassador?

They just accept that their own people are treated like that?

hiso don't refer to loso as "their own people"

 

[ftpjtm]

9 hours ago, AlfHuy said:

ftpjtm.

Hope you will get locked up somewhere for a couple of weeks too.

If I am in Thailand and I am in a community where more than 20% of inhabitants are infected with COVID, I fully expect to be locked up.

 

In fact I was in Pattaya in April where there was a far lower percentage of infection and was locked in a confined area with only essential services available. 

 

The article per the link below describes the situation at the 7 Samut Sakhon factories as follows;

 

"Health officials in the central province of Samut Sakhon have taken the unprecedented step of sealing off 7 factories, where 40,000 migrant labourers live and work, until the end of February....(in normal times) the workers live at the factories and rarely leave."

 

So this is essentially home confinement. While I glad I'm not in a position in life where I have to live and work as a migrant worker at a Samut Sakhon seafood processing factory, and pity these people not only this day but every day, under the circumstances I don't think that home confinement is unreasonable. 

 

As I have stated above, I have 2 homes, one in the US and one in Thailand. I made a conscious decision to remain in Thailand throughout the pandemic largely because I, along with everyone in Thailand, will be "locked up somewhere" if determined to be a high COVID transmission risk. I LIKE that policy and think it's largely responsible for the low transmission rate in Thailand. In the US 2 of my family members died of COVID, a friend's mother died of COVID, another good friend's step mother died of COVID, and 3 family members were infected with but recovered from COVID.

 

I don't know anyone in Thailand who had it. Smart policy. If you don't like it leave. 

 

 

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/samut-sakhon-officials-seal-off-40000-migrant-workers-in-7-factories-for-entire-month

 

[Nout]

On 2/3/2021 at 8:06 AM, Bkk Brian said:

"Dr. Kiatipoom said that, in the past, health officials had focused on pro-active screening to find infections in the factories and communities in Samut Sakhon but, from now on, he said that the focus will be shifted to controlling the spread of the virus in risk areas, like factories, and among at-risk groups."

 

Quick lesson on how to stop mass testing 101. Let it spread in a contained area, forget human rights

Australian rules you mean?

[ftpjtm]

11 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Think outside of the box.  These factory workers, the majority of them do not have Covid, nor have they tested positive and are not infected.  We are talking about thousands upon thousands of workers in 7 factories here.  You still do not get it, and you cannot compare an expat or a Thai to the situation the migrant workers are facing.  Drastically different, ASQ versus locked into a factory, not a tent city.  Additionally, do not tell me where I should be if I object to human rights violations.  Glad you see slavery and imprisonment as ok, must be fine from where you have originally come from and it is not the USA, and wherever your ethnic origins come from it must be seen as also being ok.

Per my link above, of the 40,000 workers at these 7 factories 9,000 have already tested positive for COVID-19. So nearly half of all COVID-19 cases in all of Thailand since the start of the pandemic,  have been found within those 7 factory compounds over the past few weeks. And anyone inside of those compounds who has not tested positive was almost certainly exposed to COVID-19 and is therefore a high transmission risk.

 

Also per the link, the workers are confined to the factory compounds where they live and work. So they are living in the same accommodations today as they were last month and many months before. 

 

How much freedom of movement should the people in those 7 factory compounds be allowed? How would you handle the situation?

Edited February 4, 2021 by ftpjtm

[Yellowtail]

There are a lot of Thais working at these factories as well. 

 

I worked in an industrial area in Thailand for almost 20 years.  All of the very big employers had housing for the staff and workers. I lived in staff housing. There is really no way to get enough workers without providing housing, as the infrastructure in these areas is such that it just will not support them.

 

As stated in the article, they are not required to stay in the factory, but in the factory compound. The factory compound would include the factory buildings, the canteens as well as staff and worker living quarters. Satellite locations would also be considered part of the factory compound. 

 

Per the article, it is only the major factories that employ thousands of workers, not the smaller factories, as most of the small factories, as it is generally not cost effective for the smaller companies to provide housing. 

 

No need to take my word for it, use Google earth and look. 

[traveller101]

On 03/02/2021 at 10:57 AM, tomazbodner said:

Factories normally have their own canteens, post offices, GP offices, etc. Probably they would turn some unused area into sleeping area, but all the rest is already there.

The CEO of the worlds top canned tuna maker Thai Union operating out of  Samut Dakhon had this to say 1 month ago, after 69 out of more than 23,000 of his workers tested positive.

Those without symptoms would quarantine at home or at designated locations.

He has not ruled out Factory Closures if the situation worsens.

But, but, of course we always build factories with tens of acres of unused space to house our workers in times of need. Nuff said

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/covid-19-seafood-producer-thai-union-operating-normally-69-cases-13904500

[Yellowtail]

It is also worth noting that many (most?) of these large labor intense factories run two or three shifts.