Anutin: Phuket Sandbox remains on course - three tests for already vaccinated foreign tourists - 14 days on island

[Gwen1234]

What's the point of getting vaccinated if you still have to have 4 covid tests ? 

[Nanaplaza666]

5 hours ago, xtof2 said:

Anutin, let's do 1 test per day.

Just to be on the safe side.

 

Yeah , and who is selling the tests and the vaccines ?? I geuss because his construction business at the moment isn't doing that well he has to get his money from somewhere .

[Rockhound]

There's only one way out of this global political mess:  Just drop the hysteria and paranoia now.   Immediately.  

[BananaGuy]

Is this 'sandbox' thing simply a translation error?

 

I'm a golfing idiot but pretty sure a design feature consisting of a depression containing sand and purposely designed to be avoided is called a 'sandtrap'.

[kangaloowest]

Can anyone tell me, what price these so-called

"Specially Approved Hotels cost??"

 

Cheers in advance

[DefaultName]

I wouldn't worry about the tourists, there won't be any, who would be daft enough to go through all that for a holiday?  I can think of several reasons why people would, but none are for tourism.

 

[DefaultName]

2 minutes ago, BananaGuy said:

Is this 'sandbox' thing simply a translation error?

 

I'm a golfing idiot but pretty sure a design feature consisting of a depression containing sand and purposely designed to be avoided is called a 'sandtrap'.

In software terms a sandbox is a part of a system where users can learn to use it by "playing" without affecting the real system or data.

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

He said the province would be "fully" vaccinated so it can be opened up according to the stated plans.

Fully vaccinated to who's criteria?

one jab, two jabs, what final percentage.?

 

[Dart12]

The good news is, a drug exists to treat and cure covid already exists.  Why is that news ignored by those in power?

[smedly]

23 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Actually, local residents other than essential workers are restricted from entering Phuket. Assuming going in and out of Phuket is what you meant.

out actually - fully vaccinated foreigners are restricted which was my point

 

Why ?

[Nanaplaza666]

2 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

How long do these plonkers think Western tourists take for a holiday?

Usually about ten days, so that they have enough days for a holiday around Xmas and New Year. That ten days is usually spent in multiple locations within the country.

The average stay for all tourists that come to Phuket is 4.9 days.

 

As being an official seems more like a paid holiday, rather than actual work, they have no conception of this fundamental problem. Not in charge of their own movements for 14 days, tracking devices and paying for more tests? No one in any numbers to make a difference will come.

Watch the blame game and laugh up your sleeve when these officials realise their failure and watch the finger-pointing.

My guess is that Anutin will be the person with no chair when the music stops.

You think Anutin gives a flying !@#$ about having a chair when the music stops , he has a whole furniture companie at home thats how rich he is . He doesn't care less as long as he can fill his overflowing pockets even more during the time he is dancing . 

[Al Nilam]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Family of 4 would run an extra $1,000 USD just to be tested and then if one of them is hospitalized because they tested positive, well then thar she blows....what a true cockup this will be.  Three friends that were headed to Phuket on July 15th for 4 weeks of Muay Thai training from California have now canceled, as the extra expense of tests and the possibility they might test positive, even though vaccinated, was just to much for them as they have jobs to return to in the middle of August.  They are going to Cozumel instead.

They wouldn't find you slightly positive on any test just for any of the hospitals to take advantage of the 100% guaranteed insured visitor, would they !!!

 

[bermondburi]

1 hour ago, diks said:

the number may not be entirely correct but here is a link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9681613/Study-shows-29-people-died-catching-new-strain-vaccinations.html

12 fully vaccinated people died from 39,000 known cases of the Delta variant. Looks a bit different when you put it like that doesn't it. 

 

No one ever said the vaccines are 100 percent .

[Thalueng]

5 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

I keep pointing out one huge hole no one can answer.. 

When a Thai national tries to leave the sandbox, via road or sea, how can anyone determine if he is a local Thai national or a Sandbox arrival ?? A local Thai national need not carry any passport (hence immigration stamps) or must have any tracking apps. There is no way to determine this !! The same to a lesser extent for local expats and domestic non Thais, of course they can be demanded to have the passport but many travel without one. But telling a sandbox arrival from a domestic traveler, especially later on when this involves 10s of 1000s of arrivals has not been addressed in any way. 

I mean they are not building a system based 100% on trusting Thai word are they ?? 

Every time I raise this in the various sandbox groups which are talking and planning with local government all I get is an 'err yeah.. good point'.. 

I guess everyone arriving on an international flight carries a passport and gets registered in the nation wide database. I guess when leaving the sandbox after 2 weeks you will get registered on exit in the computer, with a stamp in the passport or some other certificate. Foreigners are required to carry their passport in Thailand at all times, not only in the sandbox, not only during covid, pretty sure this will be enforced at the sandbox border. Yes, you're right, you can't tell the difference between local Thais and Thais who arrived from abroad. However, if they do not clear to leave the sandbox they might in fact get into trouble as this can easily be followed up. And I further guess that local Thais do not carry suitcases when crossing the sandbox border, where international arrivals likely do. And, most Thais follow instructions from the government more diligently than foreigners often do, at least that's my experience in this country. Is it bullet proof? It's not, but I would finally guess it's good enough to give it a try.

[BestB]

5 minutes ago, Nanaplaza666 said:

You think Anutin gives a flying !@#$ about having a chair when the music stops , he has a whole furniture companie at home thats how rich he is . He doesn't care less as long as he can fill his overflowing pockets even more during the time he is dancing . 

I think you may find his popularity since becoming health minister and deputy pm has plunged and he is almost as hated as PM himself.

 

He may find it hard to continue his business or anything else once he is out of the office, which i doubt he plans to leave ever

[Biffski]

6 hours ago, zzzzz said:

3 tests >
who pays?   3,000 baht/test>>  dam

 

am sure the couple of hundred "tourists" will enjoy the island 

Government pays. Same as the ASQ. It is just ASQ light. ????

 

[Cake Monster]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that about 60% of the population had been vaccinated on Phuket.

 

He said the province would be "fully" vaccinated so it can be opened up according to the stated plans. 

Not exactly the whole truth.

60 % have maybe been given a single shot of Sinovac, which has an efficacy of only 3 % until the second Dose is given.

Who is going to believe Anutin when he says all the province will be " fully " vaccinated.

These Clowns are so desperate for the Tourist Dollar, they are prepared to place all the inhabitants of Phuket, all the possible Tourists, and ultimately Thailand as a whole, at the mercy of the new Covid Variants.

 

[blackcab]

A post containing a rumour with no links to a credible source has been removed.

[KarenBravo]

11 minutes ago, Nanaplaza666 said:

You think Anutin gives a flying !@#$ about having a chair when the music stops , he has a whole furniture companie at home thats how rich he is . He doesn't care less as long as he can fill his overflowing pockets even more during the time he is dancing . 

 

That's where you're wrong. He will lose something very near and dear to him. It's called Face.

[Thalueng]

1 hour ago, sqwakvfr said:

4 RT PCR tests in a period of 17 to 18 days is overkill.  Testing on arrival absent any symptoms might be wasteful.  According to the US CDC the median incubation period is 4 to 5 days.  A better way would be to test according to the following timetable:

 

1 72 hours before departure

2. Day  3, 4 or 5

3. Day 7, 8, or 9

 

Testing on Day 1 is meaningless because the traveler has already tested "not detected" 72 hours before departure.  Based upon my ASQ experience and what I have read so for rarely did any ASQ guest test positive on the second Covid 19 test.  A positive on the second ASQ test would mean Covid 19 protocols within the hotel have failed??  What would happen if a "Sandbox" guest tests positive on day 14?  Lockdown all of Phuket??  

No lockdown, he will be taken to hospital and not allowed to leave Phuket, so protecting the patient and the rest of Thailand. That's the idea of the whole exercise.

[GroveHillWanderer]

3 hours ago, Excel said:

There is insufficient date to suggest that whilst vaccinated against one variant, you can not catch a newer variant being carried by those unvaccinated you may come into contact with.

That's not so - the available data strongly suggests that being fully vaccinated with the current vaccines (which were all based on the original, wild type virus) provides signficant protection against the variants.

 

As the article below, published yesterday states:

Quote

Two doses of the Pfizer shot was estimated to reduce the risk of infection with Delta, first identified in India, by 79%, compared with a 92% reduction for the Alpha variant, first detected last year in England and also known as B.1.1.7.

 

For the shot developed by AstraZeneca, the figures were 60% and 73%, respectively.

 

Vaccines Offer Significant Protection Against Covid-19 Delta Variant, U.K. Analysis Shows

[Excel]

2 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

That's not so - the available data strongly suggests that being fully vaccinated with the current vaccines (which were all based on the original, wild type virus) provides signficant protection against the variants.

 

As the article below, published yesterday states:

 

Vaccines Offer Significant Protection Against Covid-19 Delta Variant, U.K. Analysis Shows

Significant is not total protection is it ? So there is a chance, no matter how small you can contract other variants and thus pass it on to unvaccinated people which is exactly what I was saying. Please do not take parts of peoples responses out of context in which they were written just to attempt to prove a point which you have successfully shown you could not do in this instance.

[Kadilo]

Dear Anutin. Thank you very much for your very generous invitation. I was so looking forward to coming to enjoy your closed bars and entertainment  

 

Thank you also for wanting to ensure my safety whilst staying there and making me pay for another 3 tests. 

Sadly I won’t be able to make it as my country will not allow me to enter a country where the tourists are now “clean” and the hosts are rhe “dirty”ones and made a complete pigs ear of the vaccine rollout. 
 

It seems like only yesterday we were being turned away for being “dirty ferang” ............ oh the irony ????

 

Happy jabbing!!

[Chosenfew]

Dream-on, with the rules as stated, this will be a huge failure…

[Howiehotspur]

Just told my friend back in the Uk who was preparing for it ( I’m in Pattaya ) 

He ( and wife ) were going to Phuket they are both vaccinated… sent him this post ….  He’s now cancelling … 

[Madeline Thompson]

6 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

 

No they said half of 29k cancelled.. However there was never 29k booked, its all just numbers plucked from thin air.. 

To add to discussion:  a friend of mine tried to get a visa at London's Thai Embassy and they had never heard of the Phuket Sandbox scheme, only what they had read in the news.  There was no such visa....   uhm... I am baffled.

[bermondburi]

47 minutes ago, Dart12 said:

The good news is, a drug exists to treat and cure covid already exists.  Why is that news ignored by those in power?

 

Ganja?

 

10 minutes ago, Excel said:

Significant is not total protection is it ? So there is a chance, no matter how small you can contract other variants and thus pass it on to unvaccinated people which is exactly what I was saying. Please do not take parts of peoples responses out of context in which they were written just to attempt to prove a point which you have successfully shown you could not do in this instance.

 

But a small chance of a vaccinated person passing it on is still a lot less of a chance than an unvaccinated person passing it on. And there are millions of unvaccinated people walking around in Thailand, so what's the difference. 

 

And what do you suggest. No one travels anywhere ever again? 

[EvetsKram]

6 hours ago, petermik said:

Living in a dreamworld if they expect tourists in any numbers to come and put up with that.....

I think zero tourists,  maybe only expats using it as a way back in but restrictions are getting worse,  not better

[thailand49]

Where is the suppose Czar in all this?????

[Excel]

2 minutes ago, bermondburi said:

 

Ganja?

 

 

But a small chance of a vaccinated person passing it on is still a lot less of a chance than an unvaccinated person passing it on. And there are millions of unvaccinated people walking around in Thailand, so what's the difference. 

 

And what do you suggest. No one travels anywhere ever again? 

Not exactly but my wish would be that all those whom exhibit selfish traits and do not care whether they transmit the disease or otherwise should perhaps consider Mars as there next holiday destination.