Many doubt Thailand’s readiness in gradual reopening

[webfact]

 

Opinions vary on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s declaration last night (Monday) about Thailand’s gradual reopening plans with the next phase to start on November 1st, as many are skeptical of the country’s readiness and whether the plans will revive the dying tourism industry as hoped, as new COVID-19 infections and fatalities remain high, while vaccination rates remain low.

 

With the Thai-language hashtags #Prayut and #ReopeningTheCountry top trending on Twitter, Thai netizens are debating fiercely on the plans. One user, @khunzakame, tweeted in English “To everyone who wants to come to Thailand, come here if you dare…” together with a graph showing an upward trend in COVID-19 cases since April 2021.

 

Another netizen, with the handler @@PI3CHECK, heeded the same warning in their tweet, “Okay Listen… If you want to travel in Thailand this last year! You should beware Thai people spread you some Covid-19! Because we didn’t get any vaccines yet! Be careful!”

 

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Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/many-doubt-thailands-readiness-in-gradual-reopening/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-10-12

 

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[sapson]

My local province Khonkaen is getting ready with a week of the highest ever Covid figures., last year mainly single digits daily, now the province has recorded a high of 300+ in a day and in the city area alone between 100 to 200 a day .

 

So open all the bars and hotels welcome those thousands of tourists to the Thailand COVID winter wonderland let the festivities begin its the Thai way!.

 

 รายงานสถานการณ์โควิด-19 จังหวัดขอนแก่น ระลอกใหม่ - KKL ขอนแก่นลิงก์ (khonkaenlink.info)

[Gottfrid]

But if they open that early, then TAT must have their figures ready. It´s surely still time to get 20 million tourists to Thailand 2021.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Gottfrid

[JonnyF]

They need to open things up for people who are already here first. So that protocols can be put in place and understood, practiced and tested.  

 

To go from the current situation (night time curfews, entertainment closed, shops boarded up, alcohol bans etc.) to welcoming tourists and opening up the industry in 50 days is ridiculous, but typical of the clowns that stole power 7 years ago. 

 

They don't seem to realize that these businesses can't just flip a switch and unlock the doors and go back into business overnight. Why not start now, open up to locals and expats and let them gradually build their businesses back to some sense of normality before opening up to tourists? It's not like the tourist places would suddenly be packed anyway. Because <<drumroll>> there are no tourists and won't be many for months to come even when they do open up.

 

 

[4MyEgo]

<deleted> for brains....

[Chad3000]

This is the real core of the issue.

 

The government for whatever reason totally blew the opportunity to line up a quantity of vaccines.

 

Moreover, it is/was heavily reliant upon Sinovac and all the attendant drama that surrounded that as well.

 

Then, we had government officials caught out a number of times *monopolizing* PPE.

 

As Thailand goes scrapping for vaccine Japan, US and Europe the nation moves out of single digits yet still is one of worst performers in getting their public vaccinated. See Bloomberg link.

 

Finally, while things have finally smoothed out over the past 4-5 weeks up until then chaos would be an apt word to describe the vaccine logistics. Drama and chaos.

 

So, here we have the core issue. I believe less than 35% of the nation fully vaccinated. Many unvaxed are in rural areas, elderly with little or no family, medical support.

 

WHAT IF

 

...when the country is opened the covid numbers for whatever reason go vertical? What do you do?

 

... family returns home upcountry and bring with them covid.

 

What would tourists tolerate?

 

What would normal Thais that have nothing to do with tourism be willing to tolerate?

 

But the million dollar question...what does the government do if numbers blow up? Who is responsible?

 

**We know as a fact covid numbers are only assembled from data that are presented from hospitals. None of this is field work.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-resilience-ranking/

 

Thailand's rank is not promising.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Chad3000

[ezzra]

Thailand is a desperate needs for foreign cash and quickly.. so jumping the gun seems a good idea now, so what is good for the Thai people also be good for us to see things lively again and the reasons why we all came here in the first place...

[ukrules]

Whatever they do it will fail.

[GeorgeCross]

4 hours ago, Chad3000 said:

But the million dollar question...what does the government do if numbers blow up? Who is responsible?

this one's easy.. why, jonny foreigner will be responsible of course!

 

 

[Longwood50]

5 hours ago, JonnyF said:

They don't seem to realize that these businesses can't just flip a switch and unlock the doors and go back into business overnight. Why not start now, open up to locals and expats and let them gradually build their businesses back to some sense of normality before opening up to tourists? It's not like the tourist places would suddenly be packed anyway

That would make too much sense.  

[hioctane]

10 hours ago, Chad3000 said:

This is the real core of the issue.

 

The government for whatever reason totally blew the opportunity to line up a quantity of vaccines.

 

Moreover, it is/was heavily reliant upon Sinovac and all the attendant drama that surrounded that as well.

 

Then, we had government officials caught out a number of times *monopolizing* PPE.

 

As Thailand goes scrapping for vaccine Japan, US and Europe the nation moves out of single digits yet still is one of worst performers in getting their public vaccinated. See Bloomberg link.

 

Finally, while things have finally smoothed out over the past 4-5 weeks up until then chaos would be an apt word to describe the vaccine logistics. Drama and chaos.

 

So, here we have the core issue. I believe less than 35% of the nation fully vaccinated. Many unvaxed are in rural areas, elderly with little or no family, medical support.

 

10 hours ago, Chad3000 said:

WHAT IF

 

...when the country is opened the covid numbers for whatever reason go vertical? What do you do?

Shut down again.

 

... family returns home upcountry and bring with them covid.

Local restrictions will likely still be in place… such as quarantine on arrival.

 

What would tourists tolerate?

They won’t tolerate quarantines, lockdowns, curfews.

 

What would normal Thais that have nothing to do with tourism be willing to tolerate?

They can keep doing what they are doing.. stay home.

 

But the million dollar question...what does the government do if numbers blow up? Who is responsible?

Total lockdown again. Tourists will be blamed but it can really be blamed on the antivaxers.

 

**We know as a fact covid numbers are only assembled from data that are presented from hospitals. None of this is field work.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-resilience-ranking/

 

Thailand's rank is not promising.

 

[rott]

15 hours ago, ezzra said:

Thailand is a desperate needs for foreign cash and quickly.. so jumping the gun seems a good idea now, so what is good for the Thai people also be good for us to see things lively again and the reasons why we all came here in the first place...

I came here 24 years ago loved the way it was then and am not too unhappy with the way things are now. That is from my selfish perspective. It is disastrous for people who have lost livelihoods, homes, businesses etc. 

[JCP108]

If you only let in vaccinated travelers, every traveler who arrives increases the percentage of vaccinated people in the country. That shouldn't make the number of cases increase significantly. Might make it go down. 

[metisdead]

An off topic obfuscation post has been removed.

[meechai]

16 hours ago, Chad3000 said:

This is the real core of the issue.

The government for whatever reason totally blew the opportunity to line up a quantity of vaccines.

WHAT IF

...when the country is opened the covid numbers for whatever reason go vertical? What do you do?

... family returns home upcountry and bring with them covid.

Yes agree Govt pooched it when they early on were declining many vac offers

 

But about families returning upcountry with covid it will not be because of fully vac'ed tourists as Phuket Sandbox showed

Less than 1% were tourist infections

Mainly all were Thai's coming back to work infecting each other

 

For better or worse Covid has been strong & spreading since 2019-2020 in Thailand too regardless of the fairy tales they told. They just never tested till 2021 in any meaningful way.

 

So it is well entrenched throughout Thailand already

 

But again they are looking at the tourists who will be fully vaccinated & worrying.....misplaced worry

 

Instead perhaps they need to get their own house in order before inviting guests over. Although even more so now they will need happy citizens with elections coming so watch how things will change

Edited October 13, 2021 by meechai

[JCP108]

6 minutes ago, meechai said:

 

 

For better or worse Covid has been strong & spreading since 2019-2020 in Thailand too regardless of the fairy tales they told. They just never tested till 2021 in any meaningful way.

 

 

Yes. If you look at the annual death numbers for Thailand for 2016-2019, then look at the numbers for 2019-2020, there were 37,000 extra deaths than the prior trend would predict. Covid hit Thailand late in 2019 unless there's another explanation for that increase. 

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, JCP108 said:

If you only let in vaccinated travelers, every traveler who arrives increases the percentage of vaccinated people in the country. That shouldn't make the number of cases increase significantly. Might make it go down. 

The problem isn't with vaccinated travelers coming in, it's the un-vaccinate locals still waiting for a jab.

[JCP108]

12 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

The problem isn't with vaccinated travelers coming in, it's the un-vaccinate locals still waiting for a jab.

No doubt. But, I was responding to people expressing concern that the proposed plan to let in vaccinated travelers would cause a spike in Covid cases. You're right that it's the unvaccinated locals that are the concern.

[nobodysfriend]

17 hours ago, Chad3000 said:

But the million dollar question...what does the government do if numbers blow up? Who is responsible?

The government states fake numbers of Covid infections to calm down everybody . The reality may look very different .

Ask the rural doctors .

[sammieuk1]

Everywhere I go all I see is swathes of derelict looking shuttered up sheds and saggy hanging cables of Babylon the infrastructure has been obliterated and it looks like even the rats have moved out.

 

So I think the term opening up may come as a big shock to generals masquerading as politicians if unfettered access is ever granted to tourists again. and to them to ????   

[johng]

47 minutes ago, JCP108 said:

Yes. If you look at the annual death numbers for Thailand for 2016-2019, then look at the numbers for 2019-2020

Where can we look at these numbers  ?

[SiSePuede419]

The Hub of Spicy Mutations.

[SiSePuede419]

53 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Everywhere I go all I see is swathes of derelict looking shuttered up sheds and saggy hanging cables of Babylon the infrastructure has been obliterated and it looks like even the rats have moved out

Trenchtown, mon.

[oznomad]

Not much to be concerned about.

The lack of flights, along with the fact that many that may have come in previous years are now suffering their own financial dilemmas due to job losses, etc, etc, etc, will keep the influx to low numbers.

 

[Cake Monster]

20 hours ago, JonnyF said:

They need to open things up for people who are already here first. So that protocols can be put in place and understood, practiced and tested.  

 

To go from the current situation (night time curfews, entertainment closed, shops boarded up, alcohol bans etc.) to welcoming tourists and opening up the industry in 50 days is ridiculous, but typical of the clowns that stole power 7 years ago. 

 

They don't seem to realize that these businesses can't just flip a switch and unlock the doors and go back into business overnight. Why not start now, open up to locals and expats and let them gradually build their businesses back to some sense of normality before opening up to tourists? It's not like the tourist places would suddenly be packed anyway. Because <<drumroll>> there are no tourists and won't be many for months to come even when they do open up.

 

 

Many, if not all Business owners in Thailand that are involved in some kind of Tourist activity will be viewing this opening plan with a 2 pronged approach.

Yes ! They want, and need to open

But ! Will there be sufficient Tourists to pay all the overheads once they have opened.

The Government needs to instigate some kind of subsidy for the short term at least, to get these people up and running again.

Without this help regrettably many are either not going to bother opening, or will do so, and promptly shut up shop again or go Bankrupt

 

[poskat]

to expect anything other than a clusterfxxk of a re-opening mean you havent been paying attention to anything that the government had tried to do over the last 7 years....

[Troy Tempest]

5 hours ago, JCP108 said:

If you only let in vaccinated travelers, every traveler who arrives increases the percentage of vaccinated people in the country. That shouldn't make the number of cases increase significantly. Might make it go down. 

Not true!...Vaccination does not prevent the infection spreading nor reduce the rate of transmission.

 

It merely reduces the severity of the condition in those who contract the virus (in most cases).

[bangkokbonecollector]

7 hours ago, rott said:

I came here 24 years ago loved the way it was then and am not too unhappy with the way things are now. That is from my selfish perspective. It is disastrous for people who have lost livelihoods, homes, businesses etc. 

The feeling back then was so awesome..I miss those days very much.

[John Drake]

Tourism at each stage requires intense person to person contact in large groups of people. From waiting in line at immigration and luggage areas, to standing in line for taxis and BTS trains, to gathering in hotels and restaurants and bars, to visiting temples or even going to the beach. The numbers of people and close contact will necessarily increase and so will Covid infections--if for no other reason than that people coming back and working at all these places cannot get fully vaccinated and will spread it to their friends and families. It's not going to be like it is now with a handful of tourists arising and passing people outfitted in PPE and everyone a couple of meters apart. It is going to go back to a crush of people.

Edited October 13, 2021 by John Drake

[bbbbooboo]

Hmmm…. Stupid is what stupid does , has never been truer?