Thailand uses hotels beds for COVID-19 patients after surge in cases

[snoop1130]

 

FILE PHOTO: Empty beds are seen inside a field hospital recently set up to fight the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as the country deals with a fresh wave of infections after tackling earlier outbreaks, in Bangkok, Thailand, April 12, 2021. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand reported on Friday its fifth record daily tally of coronavirus cases this week, as authorities set up thousands of field hospitals to cope with an influx of patients and lined up hotels to provide extra beds for those without symptoms.

 

All positive cases have to be admitted into care under Thai rules and with 10,461 patients currently being treated, the medical sector could be put under additional strain.

 

The government has set up over 20,000 beds at field hospitals across the country at community centres and gyms.

 

Hotels and hospitals are also partnering up to set up "hospitels" to treat asymptomatic patients, the health ministry said.

 

Currently 5,000 beds across 23 hotels had been readied, it said in a statement. About 2,000 beds are occupied and an additional 7,000 more could be added.

 

Hotels already hosting travellers to Thailand for quarantine were best positioned for this, Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, the president of the Thai Hotels Association, told Reuters.

 

"They have all the processes in place such as preventing cross contamination, wearing PPE suits, cleaning, making sure floors are not carpeted," she said.

 

Hotels register through the health ministry and are matched up with hospitals that require extra beds.

 

The hotels range from three- to five-star facilities and are mostly in the outskirts of Bangkok, the epicentre of the latest outbreak, which saw 312 new infections on Friday.

 

Thailand has so far managed to contain the number of cases relative to other countries, but the new outbreak comes as many have travelled during the country's Songkran new year holidays this week and as vaccination rates are still low.

 

Thailand reported 1,582 new coronavirus cases on Friday, marking the highest number of daily infections since the start of the pandemic.

 

The new cases took the total number of infections to 39,038, with deaths remaining at 97.

 

Authorities aim to get the new outbreak under control within a month, health minister Anutin Charnvirakul said, ahead of an announcement of a series of new measures later on Friday.

 

The measures being discussed include closing entertainment venues, clubs, bars, massage parlours and schools nationwide for at least two weeks, Anutin said on Thursday.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-04-16

 

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[ThailandRyan]

Wonder what the price will run to be housed in one of the Hospitels for being asymptomatic or until you need to be placed in a bed at a hospital.

10 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Hotels register through the health ministry and are matched up with hospitals that require extra beds.

 

The hotels range from three- to five-star facilities and are mostly in the outskirts of Bangkok, the epicentre of the latest outbreak, which saw 312 new infections on Friday.

 

[Laughing Gravy]

In theory seems like a sensible option. Hopefully comfortable beds.

[Surelynot]

18 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

 

Hotels already hosting travellers to Thailand for quarantine were best positioned for this

I would not be a happy camper if I'd paid umpteen thousand to quarantine, only to find infected people were being placed in the same hotel...........and then you come out to lockdown........you would have to have some powerful reasons to consider coming to Thailand at present.

[madmitch]

14 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

I would not be a happy camper if I'd paid umpteen thousand to quarantine, only to find infected people were being placed in the same hotel...........and then you come out to lockdown........you would have to have some powerful reasons to consider coming to Thailand at present.

They wouldn't mix them, would they? Surely not (sorry!).

[Surelynot]

Just now, madmitch said:

They wouldn't mix them, would they? Surely not (sorry!).

5555......no but are they allowed out any time ? Are they allowed to have a one hour exercise walk.......will it be the same staff going onto an infected floor as go onto a quarantine floor........there are plenty of people going into quarantine hotels healthy and coming out with covid already.......and that's before you put covid patients in there.......

[smedly]

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Hotels already hosting travellers to Thailand for quarantine were best positioned for this, Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, the president of the Thai Hotels Association, told Reuters.

 

so people in ASQ for 14 days who are virus free now run a very high risk of being infected as they fill these places with - the infected 

 

I would not be at all happy about this, before now, anyone in ASQ who returned a positive test was removed and isolated 

[damascase]

Apparently in the Thai view I would have to stay in bed - as there is obviously no other option in one of these field hospitals shown in the picture - even when I don’t have symptoms? Ridiculous! I do understand the need for isolation, but I’m afraid that with hundreds of infected people in the same space I would develop symptoms rapidly......

[internationalism]

there is big difference being placed on a 5* hotel or cramped in a common room with over 100 beds made from paper.

 

on the picture above those beds are less than 1 m apart and corridor is some 50cm wide. No any other furniture, not electrical sockets and no any fan (not sure such big room is air conditioned effectively - especially that is has fans on windows).

 

so those luxurious hotels are very big indeed, with over 200 beds. As if no star hotels, guest houses, would do the same function for a fraction of cost. Most likely belong to hotel chains or local oligarchy. That way public money will flow back to state officials. 

Edited April 16, 2021 by internationalism

[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, internationalism said:

on the picture above those beds are less than 1 m apart and corridor is some 50cm wide. No any other furniture, not electrical sockets and no any fan (not sure such big room is air conditioned effectively - especially that is has fans on windows).

Could be worse. Could be Durian and Som Tam for breakfast, lunch and dinner

 

[sammieuk1]

9 hours ago, Surelynot said:

5555......no but are they allowed out any time ? Are they allowed to have a one hour exercise walk.......will it be the same staff going onto an infected floor as go onto a quarantine floor........there are plenty of people going into quarantine hotels healthy and coming out with covid already.......and that's before you put covid patients in there.......

Pro rata ASQ was the most infected place on earth when the figures got published daily to silence the lambs ????

[Salerno]

10 hours ago, Surelynot said:

I would not be a happy camper if I'd paid umpteen thousand to quarantine, only to find infected people were being placed in the same hotel...........

 

5 hours ago, smedly said:

so people in ASQ for 14 days who are virus free now run a very high risk of being infected as they fill these places with - the infected 

 

You'd hope they are clearing out ASQ hotels to be used purely for positive cases, not mixing them. From an ASQ group yesterday:

 

"I have been staying at the CHORCHER [sic] hotel since 8 April. This morning I received a call from reception that I ( and some other guests) would be urgently relocated to another hotel.

The reason being that the CHORCHER will now be used for mandatory stays by asymptomatic corona positive people."

 

And a subsequent reply from the author:

 

"yep. The hotel i stayed in was converted into a field hospital.. and I was transferred to another (better) hotel yesterday."

[daveAustin]

10 hours ago, Surelynot said:

I would not be a happy camper if I'd paid umpteen thousand to quarantine, only to find infected people were being placed in the same hotel...........and then you come out to lockdown........you would have to have some powerful reasons to consider coming to Thailand at present.

Unlikely to work out like that, though if one were infected one might find oneself downloaded to one of these places as opposed to the hospital.

[Bangkok Barry]

18 hours ago, Surelynot said:

will it be the same staff going onto an infected floor as go onto a quarantine floor

 

Reminds me of a hotel I stayed at in New Haven, Connecticut a few times. One of the floors was used as a recovery centre for a hospital across the street, and sometimes I'd be in the lift and someone would enter in their pyjamas carrying their drip stand. Not what you usually experience in a hotel.

 

Also once in the States I was staying in a New York City YMCA and looked out of the window to a courtyard, and there was a man's body with blood draining away. A little later I was going down in the lift and a couple of firemen entered carrying a stretcher with the bound up body.

[Surelynot]

6 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Reminds me of a hotel I stayed at in New Haven, Connecticut a few times. One of the floors was used as a recovery centre for a hospital across the street, and sometimes I'd be in the lift and someone would enter in their pyjamas carrying their drip stand. Not what you usually experience in a hotel.

 

Also once in the States I was staying in a New York City YMCA and looked out of the window to a courtyard, and there was a man's body with blood draining away. A little later I was going down in the lift and a couple of firemen entered carrying a stretcher with the bound up body.

Yikes.....

[Sheryl]

19 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Wonder what the price will run to be housed in one of the Hospitels for being asymptomatic or until you need to be placed in a bed at a hospital.

 

 

The field "hospitals"  as government run faclities, are free for Thai citizens same as State Quarantine and hospitalization in a government hospital.

 

The hotels are private pay presumably same rate as they already established for ASQ

[Surelynot]

Just now, Sheryl said:

 

The field "hospitals"  as government run faclities, are free for Thai citizens same as State Quarantine and hospitalization in a government hospital.

 

The hotels are private pay presumably same rate as they already established for ASQ

How can they enforce quarantine and then make you pay???? 

[Sheryl]

1 minute ago, Surelynot said:

How can they enforce quarantine and then make you pay???? 

 

They already do so for all entering travelers.

 

And not just Thailand, some other countries do as well.

 

Bigger question is whether health insurance would pay for a foreigner's "care" in one of these facilities. Presumably the Thai COVID policies, designed with the understanding that all cases will be hospitalized, will but I doubt any other insurer would.

 

 

[Surelynot]

3 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

They already do so for all entering travelers.

 

And not just Thailand, some other countries do as well.

 

Bigger question is whether health insurance would pay for a foreigner's "care" in one of these facilities. Presumably the Thai COVID policies, designed with the understanding that all cases will be hospitalized, will but I doubt any other insurer would.

 

 

True, but the travelers are voluntary......if I happened to test positive....no insurance......they can't just charge me surely?....even for a field hospital bed????

[Sheryl]

3 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

True, but the travelers are voluntary......if I happened to test positive....no insurance......they can't just charge me surely?....even for a field hospital bed????

 

They certainly can and almost certainly will.

 

I am not sure that foreigners will have the option of the field hospitals, they may be required to use hotel (or private hospital if beds available).

 

 

[Surelynot]

1 minute ago, Sheryl said:

 

They certainly can and almost certainly will.

 

I am not sure that foreigners will have the option of the field hospitals, they may be required to use hotel (or private hospital if beds available).

 

 

I best start saving up!!!

[ThailandRyan]

58 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

I best start saving up!!!

I understand the hard part is believing that you will be forced into a facility of some type if testing positive.  However, as I have stated over and over to folks who think they can isolate and quarantine at home instead, and a few that have insisted they can not be made to enter such a facility, well I hate to say it but it is fact and that's why I asked what the cost would be at this point.  Several months ago 3 friends of mine who entered the country voluntarily to return here to their families, tested positive while in quarantine, and each ended up paying between 200k ThB and 300k ThB based upon the treatment needed or not needed as the staff attending to them have to wear the proper PPE, and then of course that cost is passed on as well as the facility fees.  I do hate the fact that it could happen, but as I have said many times over, this is how Thailand deals with the positive covid tested individual(s).  We can all thank the little ghost's who set the precedent over a year ago when they returned from S. Korea and did as they wanted instead of following the directions given to them.  Then to top it off, the pretties fleeing Myanmar's Casino entering Thailand by sneaking back into the country and spreading the virus then.  

[Salerno]

11 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

each ended up paying between 200k ThB and 300k ThB

 

Self inflicted unfortunately, given the rules (that have been in force for what, around 12 months?) anyone not ensuring they had full insurance coverage can easily get a nasty surprise.

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

Self inflicted unfortunately, given the rules (that have been in force for what, around 12 months?) anyone not ensuring they had full insurance coverage can easily get a nasty surprise.

That unfortunately was the amount of the deductible they had for their chosen 100K policy unfortunately.  I have a 100K deductible for my policies.

[Salerno]

1 minute ago, ThailandRyan said:

That unfortunately was the amount of the deductible they had for their chosen 100K policy unfortunately.  I have a 100K deductible for my policies.

 

200-300K deductible is a bit steep for my taste. I was thinking more of the normal health/travel insurance not paying out so getting the cheapish AXA covid insurance just in case of a +ve test in quarantine.

[superal]

A field hospital is more than a multi bedded room .  Their rooms appear to have no medical equipment and also how are they being staffed ? 

A real field hospital example would be the " Nightingale Hospitals "set up in a matter of days by UK military personnel and fully equipped for covid 19 e.g. ventilators etc and staffed by qualified medics . I pity the Thai medics who will have to work in their so called field hospitals/ covid breeding rooms . 

[Stargeezr]

I also wonder by the picture shown, is, where are the eating places, toilets, and bath rooms

located?  If these are shared, well.... forget it, the place is a petri dish.

Geezer

[Jeffr2]

I'd really rather not end up in one of these for a variety of reasons.  Doesn't look good.

[Fex Bluse]

On 4/16/2021 at 6:03 PM, Surelynot said:

5555......no but are they allowed out any time ? Are they allowed to have a one hour exercise walk.......will it be the same staff going onto an infected floor as go onto a quarantine floor........there are plenty of people going into quarantine hotels healthy and coming out with covid already.......and that's before you put covid patients in there.......

 

Sorry, I don't trust them. We all know how lax Thailand is. If be seriously fearful that they would be following no strict guidelines. It's a disaster waiting to happen. 

[Jeffr2]

New article in the Post today.  Seems they are running out of beds.  Google:

 

Alarm rises over hospital bed shortage