Phuket sets up ten more community isolation facilities as COVID-19 infections spike

[Jonathan Fairfield]

 

Ten more community isolation facilities are being set up on Thailand’s Phuket Island as COVID-19 infections surge.

 

The province’s Governor Narong Woonsiew said today (Saturday) that the spike in infections on the popular resort island, currently averaging more than 200 cases a day, is similar to the situation in Bangkok about two months ago and there is serious concern among local people that the hospitals will be overwhelmed.

 

The governor disclosed that there are about 300 infected people waiting to be admitted to hospitals and the numbers are expected to grow.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/phuket-sets-up-ten-more-community-isolation-facilities-as-covid-19-infections-spike/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-09-12

 

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[Scrotobike]

Goodness - the bad news for the litterbox keeps coming. Red zone anyone?

[tomazbodner]

To me question is where infections came from. Overseas visitors are tested on arrival and then a few more times and isolated if they are infected. Before sandbox opened, apparently 70% of population was vaccinated. It has now been open a couple of months so Phuket population should more or less be 100% vaccinated by now, but I do understand that was 2x Sinovac so basically immunity might be gone by now. But regardless, the main question is still where infections came from? From domestic tourists? Is it Delta or Beta or something else? So many questions, so few answers in that article.

[Deli]

4 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

To me question is where infections came from. Overseas visitors are tested on arrival and then a few more times and isolated if they are infected. Before sandbox opened, apparently 70% of population was vaccinated. It has now been open a couple of months so Phuket population should more or less be 100% vaccinated by now, but I do understand that was 2x Sinovac so basically immunity might be gone by now. But regardless, the main question is still where infections came from? From domestic tourists? Is it Delta or Beta or something else? So many questions, so few answers in that article.

 

It's now mainly in communities where people live and work should to shoulder and where there's little hygene only. Goverment failed again to test in these areas EARLY. Where does it come from ? It was always there, just in lower numbers and swiped under the carpet.

[ikke1959]

The used vaccinations are working very well in the sandbox...Happily the tourists did not bring it to the island..So the Sandbox can continue

[smedly]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Ten more community isolation facilities are being set up on Thailand’s Phuket Island as COVID-19 infections surge.

Are they SHA + approved lol

[smedly]

2 hours ago, Scrotobike said:

Goodness - the bad news for the litterbox keeps coming. Red zone anyone?

Exactly, as I have been saying for a few days now - how Phuket is not a deep Red Zone is beyond comprehention 

[smedly]

35 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

To me question is where infections came from. Overseas visitors are tested on arrival and then a few more times and isolated if they are infected. Before sandbox opened, apparently 70% of population was vaccinated. It has now been open a couple of months so Phuket population should more or less be 100% vaccinated by now, but I do understand that was 2x Sinovac so basically immunity might be gone by now. But regardless, the main question is still where infections came from? From domestic tourists? Is it Delta or Beta or something else? So many questions, so few answers in that article.

it was always there they just couldn't hide it any longer 

 

As far back as 6 weeks ago I said covid was rampant in Phuket 

[LivinginKata]

49 minutes ago, smedly said:

Exactly, as I have been saying for a few days now - how Phuket is not a deep Red Zone is beyond comprehention 

 Because that would be the end of the sand box. Loss of face. Can't be allowed to close. For me it should be a red zone given percentage of (local) cases.

[wensiensheng]

The sandbox is pretty irrelevant to Phuket cases. It’s community spread, always has been. But vaccinations are high, at least so we are assured, and yet they keep “hospitalising” perfectly healthy people who happen to be infected with Covid. Surprise surprise, hospital beds run low, despite the fact that many people shy away from being tested so as to avoid being incarcerated for 2 weeks.

 

after rushing to vaccinate the population to the detriment of elderly and at risk people elsewhere, the government now seems intent on minimizing the benefits of those vaccinations. Restrictions in Phuket are the same as they would be with a 20% vaccinated population, hospitalisation policy is the same as it would be with a 20% vaccinated population, entry restrictions to and from the island is the same as it would be with a 20% vaccinated population, schools are closed as they would be with a 20% vaccinated population.
 

So what was gained from rushing the vaccinations? A few thousand tourists? Big deal. Meanwhile the 500,000 real residents are subject to the same restrictions as they would in any case be.

 

maybe the real benefit is lower severe cases and deaths? But that could have been pretty much achieved simply by vaccinating the small percentage of the population in the at risk category.

 

the overall strategy and game plan seems pretty messed up to me.

[wensiensheng]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

Exactly, as I have been saying for a few days now - how Phuket is not a deep Red Zone is beyond comprehention 

I think the concept of zoning provinces has been pretty much forgotten about now. Just like anything else in Thailand it was a two week wonder after which it lost focus. I don’t really read about any changes to zones, at least on a formal basis and in any case Governors seem to make up their own stuff on restrictions etc, irrespective of how their province is zoned. And in Phuket’s case, ok it’s a technically a red zone, but a lot of restrictions are in place anyway, sandbox or no sandbox.

 

I just see a headlong rush countrywide to vaccinate….anybody, everybody. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but certainly not the optimal way to go about it.

 

but yes, short answer i believe is that more than 100 cases turns a province red.

[Dart12]

Shows 2 things…

vax get Covid and spread Covid same as I vax.

 

and fear porn… running out of hospital beds?

only because you force people with sniffles and fine into them for a huge money grab for a few vitamins and bad food

[Burma Bill]

4 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

The used vaccinations are working very well in the sandbox...Happily the tourists did not bring it to the island..So the Sandbox can continue

With respect, I beg to differ.

For reference 14 July 2021:-

 

"At least six tourists have tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving on the island under the sandbox program. One of the first to be identified was a visitor from United Arab Emirates who had taken the test as part of requirements upon arrival. Drivers and hotel staff who had come into contact with the man were placed into self-isolation"

 

 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/sun-surf-and-sandbox-escape-pandemic

[ikke1959]

1 hour ago, Burma Bill said:

With respect, I beg to differ.

For reference 14 July 2021:-

 

"At least six tourists have tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving on the island under the sandbox program. One of the first to be identified was a visitor from United Arab Emirates who had taken the test as part of requirements upon arrival. Drivers and hotel staff who had come into contact with the man were placed into self-isolation"

 

 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/sun-surf-and-sandbox-escape-pandemic

I agree.... but the people would have been vaccinated and so "protected"  Now it is mid September and the cases are rising...Should that only be because of those 6 tourists???

[ukrules]

41 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

I agree.... but the people would have been vaccinated and so "protected"  Now it is mid September and the cases are rising...Should that only be because of those 6 tourists???

Of course not, it's everywhere, those people coming out of quarantine are just as likely to catch it from the first Thai they meet after release as they are anywhere else in the world.

 

This sandbox scheme is complete nonsense, it shouldn't exist at all, they should cancel it and either close down the borders or fully open it up - it doesn't matter which route they take - the eventual outcome will be the same.

COVID is here and it's not going anywhere until they've nearly all had it.

[Golden Triangle]

It should be closed, send everyone ( tourists ) home, what the hell is wrong with the people in charge  ?  No balls to tell the powers that be that it's failing in a spectacular way ? That it's putting the locals at risk ? 

 

Not the tourists to blame, it's the locals, infecting each other, krap vaccines, the said initially that at 90 infections a week they would close it down, now it's 200+ a day, but guess what it's still wide open. Pathetic.