Pattaya: Saturday morning raids could jeopardize plans to reopen resort to foreign tourists

[webfact]

Picture: Sanook

 

Thai media Sanook reported on the fallout from the raids on Friday night/Saturday morning at The Garden 168, Mo Salah and on the beach when 121 people were rounded up for drinking and illegal gathering. 

 

They said that everyone was detained and that on Saturday health staff from Bang Lamung Hospital arrived in PPE at Pattaya Police station to conduct SWAB testing on 107 people and 26 police officers who were involved in the raids. 

 

These officers came from the provincial and local forces. 

 

Everyone would have to wait 24 hours for the results and in the meantime were being kept in isolation. Further measures could follow to trace other individuals if positive tests came back.

 

The media said this situation represented a threat of a cluster that could seriously damage plans for Pattaya to reopen to foreign tourists in the third quarter, a key aim of the mayor Sontaya Kunplome. 

 

They likened the threat and the potential for damage to 85 cases of Covid-19 that were found at a construction camp in Chonburi. 

 

In the raid Friday 29 people were picked up at The Garden 168 and 72 at Mo Salah, both in South Pattaya, and 20 people were found drinking alcohol on the beach. 

 

There were both foreigners as well as Thais said Sanook without giving actual numbers for each. 

 

Thirty shisha pipes were also taken into evidence. These have been banned in Thailand since well before the pandemic.

 

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[ezzra]

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

The media said this situation represented a threat of a cluster that could seriously damage plans for Pattaya to reopen to foreign tourists in the third quarter, a key aim of the mayor Sontaya Kunplome. 

You think Sherlock?...

[jacko45k]

Wonder who paid for the Covid tests and how much they were... 2x the price for farangs?

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

 

 

Thirty shisha pipes were also taken into evidence. These have been banned in Thailand since well before the pandemic.

 

Sheesh 30 hookahs as well .. 

Best keep a lid on that .. 

What about bagpipes are they banned , not banned or somewhere in between .. 

[RichardColeman]

Whilst I do not agree with the forceful locking up of migrant workers, in cases like this they should lock all the people up in the abode they were all found in for 14 days. I can pretty much guarantee after spending 14 days in a house with say 40 people you  wont do it again in a hurry.

[smedly]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Everyone would have to wait 24 hours for the results and in the meantime were being kept in isolation

 

I wonder what that actually means - isolation together ?

[BobinBKK]

Well if someone would have ordered and bought a sufficient amount of vaccines way back in the beginning instead of sitting around waiting until June, we wouldn't be in this position now would we!!! Root cause people, root cause!!!

[tingtong]

A group of few gathering on the beach is bad.

 

121 locked up over 24 hours in the police station is good.

 

Somehow this makes sense. But contradictory AF

[fangless]

1 hour ago, Justgrazing said:

30 hookahs as well

Is your spell checker not working?

[BobinBKK]

3 minutes ago, fangless said:

Is your spell checker not working?

I thought they meant to say hookers... 555

[robblok]

13 minutes ago, tingtong said:

A group of few gathering on the beach is bad.

 

121 locked up over 24 hours in the police station is good.

 

Somehow this makes sense. But contradictory AF

Eh locking people up is an essential thing. You cannot compare it with non essential things like beach gathering. Do you want the police stop working totally not locking up anyone anymore because that is the alternative. 

[geistfunke]

Was anyone sick?

[ukrules]

If they were all isolated together but separate from the rest of the people there then there will definitely be more infected after that little stunt than before it.

 

I would like to know under exactly what conditions they were made to spend the night and if they're still being 'isolated'.

 

Nobody will ever come on holiday to a place where this kind of thing happens.

[Mickeymaus]

This is a good example why you can't open the entertainment venues. Even when they were allowed to be open under certain restrictions almost nobody cared. But this kind of business is about social gatherings and so social distancing and masks because of consuming drinks are not possible.

 

In respect of Shishas - many bars provide(d) them and even have photos on their Facebook sites with customers smoking them. Even on Google maps you find some photos. So why always this astonishment that entertainment venues provide them? It is more astonishing that they can do this. 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Mickeymaus

[mrfill]

19 minutes ago, ukrules said:

If they were all isolated together but separate from the rest of the people there then there will definitely be more infected after that little stunt than before it.

 

I would like to know under exactly what conditions they were made to spend the night and if they're still being 'isolated'.

 

Nobody will ever come on holiday to a place where this kind of thing happens.

 

Aren't you pre-supposing that some of them were infected? If none of the apprehended villains had covid, how will there 'definitely be more infected' and where will it come from?

[Mickeymaus]

25 minutes ago, ukrules said:

If they were all isolated together but separate from the rest of the people there then there will definitely be more infected after that little stunt than before it.

 

I would like to know under exactly what conditions they were made to spend the night and if they're still being 'isolated'.

 

Nobody will ever come on holiday to a place where this kind of thing happens.

I don't understand. They have been together before already when they were partying (and perhaps more). Now at least all of them know that some of them have Covid. 

[Salerno]

38 minutes ago, geistfunke said:

Was anyone sick?

 

Five tested positive.

[Susco]

17 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

Five tested positive.

 

How many tested positive after being 24 hour in isolation together?

 

Let me guess, they just kept the 5 positives, and let the others go without testing again

[Almer]

1 hour ago, geistfunke said:

Was anyone sick?

It matters not if they were sick

[PETERTHEEATER]

4 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

 

Sheesh 30 hookahs as well .. 

Best keep a lid on that .. 

What about bagpipes are they banned , not banned or somewhere in between .. 

No, the wail of the goatskin piano will be hardly noticed over the usual prevailing noise....????

[tomazbodner]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The media said this situation represented a threat of a cluster that could seriously damage plans for Pattaya to reopen to foreign tourists in the third quarter, a key aim of the mayor Sontaya Kunplome.

Calculate potential damage, divide by 121, make each of them pay their share or jail them till they pay or die. How's that for deterrent?

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

In the raid Friday 29 people were picked up at The Garden 168 and 72 at Mo Salah, both in South Pattaya, and 20 people were found drinking alcohol on the beach. 

Proof that a few just cannot be responsible for their actions.

[connda]

"If you commoners insist on meeting, drinking, and having fun, we'll have to shut it all down and turn away tourists too!!!  You've been warned commoners!  We're about to take drastic action and it's all your fault!"


 

[newnative]

The much bigger threat to opening is that very few have been vaccinated.

[club]

This is unbelievable. How could people have the nerve to drink on the beach? 

[James105]

3 hours ago, Susco said:

 

How many tested positive after being 24 hour in isolation together?

 

Let me guess, they just kept the 5 positives, and let the others go without testing again

 

Well, the 5 that tested positive would not have caught it in the restaurant that night, it would take a few days before the virus registered on a test.   

 

It seems the Thai authorities have landed themselves a useful little experiment from this raid.   I presume those that were there did not know they had it so were asymptomatic, in which case this presents a good opportunity to find out how many others caught it from them (if any) from being in the same enclosed space.    Just how infectious are asymptomatic people for instance?      

[Scott Tracy]

After reading the article, the raids seem not to be the issue, as I perceived the headline to state.

 

Who wrote the headline? At least make it reflect the article. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and headlines sell papers etc...

[Deli]

The guys in high places screwed it up big time and the normal people who want a life get punished. Great job, guys. You can be proud of your work, Mia Nois and watches.

[tomazbodner]

6 minutes ago, Deli said:

The guys in high places screwed it up big time and the normal people who want a life get punished. Great job, guys. You can be proud of your work, Mia Nois and watches.

The "normal people" are also helping quite a lot to screw things up...

[LongTimeLurker]

5 hours ago, geistfunke said:

Was anyone sick?

 

Apparently 5 positive covid cases. So 121 locked up together, who knows?