Tourist faces huge bill, separation from family after testing positive on arrival in Thailand

[brianthainess]

17 hours ago, Chris.B said:

350,000 baht hospital bill, nearly £8,000 for 10 day stay! Must be a good room at 35,000 baht a night!

All the staff must speak English at that price. Ref from the guy who complained about double pricing. 

[stereolab]

1 hour ago, Joules said:

Any "tourist" that come here is a damned fool!

How anyone who is in full time employment would consider traveling here over the festive period is beyond me. The risks of being detained here upon arrival, with all the associated costs, but more importantly, they are risking losing their job, if unable to return home in time to start work.

[Swimfan]

46 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

That was done during the first week of the Phuket Sandbox. A group arrived 1 of them positive the others put into quarantine, but then were allowed to fly back home.  A wasted vacation for all.

Probably a group coming in on a private charter. I doubt a commercial airline will carry you if you are positive ?

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, Joules said:

Any "tourist" that come here is a damned fool!

But many arriving are not just tourists, they have family here and have waited a very long time to return.  Now that the restrictions have been lifter it would appear that many are willing to risk the chance of truly only have 1 day in quarantine on the Test N Go to spend time with their families.  A true two week tourist on the other hand is taking a gamble, like playing the lottery, but to some a much needed vacation to somewhere they enjoy, for whatever reason, is worth the unacceptable to you.  Sure many will not come knowing what we know, but much of the issue is with someone who does not read and see what could happen and then decides to arrive for a short duration.  You have as much of a chance of getting hit by  a car while crossing the road here if you not savvy to the way traffic moves here.

[Chongalulu]

16 hours ago, gungadin1 said:

Axa cover everything that's why I went with them.I contacted customer services to go over every scenario before paying

 

‘Customer Services' (the part that sells you the insurance) will not be who you deal with after the event ,it will be the claims department of the underwriter. You may be OK but suggest you read the full terms and conditions with a fine tooth comb ..and don’t assume ANYTHING when it comes to being asymptomatic or just being quarantined at the whim of the authorities because you sat next to someone who tested positive.

[brianthainess]

I would 'try' and demand another test, this is outrageous, i wonder what our Nut-In government would have to say about this. A stay in a govt hospital private/isolation room should be no more than 1k a night.

[ThailandRyan]

12 minutes ago, stereolab said:

Good luck with that, Thailand Doctors do not like being challenged.

I challenge my doctors here all the time when things do not look right or sound right. Had an ultrasound redone because they said my results were not good and I had what looked like a gastric issue.  Turns out the ultrasound tech sent my results to a different doctor and mixed up the results.  Easy enough to get a second opinion and possibly a new test if you bark loud enough.

[JonnyF]

17 hours ago, Chris.B said:

350,000 baht hospital bill, nearly £8,000 for 10 day stay! Must be a good room at 35,000 baht a night!

That's not too outrageous. I did 2 nights at a hospital in Thong Lor after breaking a collarbone/shoulder and the bill was over 50,000 Baht. 

 

The food was good though. 

[dinsdale]

Asymptomatic and 2 wks in hospital. Why? Money. People think the jet skis are rip-offs. Welcome to the covid-19/hospital rip-off.

[canopus1969]

17 minutes ago, yogi yogi said:

elaborate

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crazy

[ThailandRyan]

9 minutes ago, Swimfan said:

Probably a group coming in on a private charter. I doubt a commercial airline will carry you if you are positive ?

Not sure how the group flew back home but it was reported they had done so.  Not sure back then it was a requirement to test before flying to where they were going and if they were nationals of that country, like the Thai Nationals, at one time they did not need to test to fly back to Thailand.  We whinged about it very much on-line at the time about the inequity of a foreigner being required to test 72 hours prior but not a Thai.

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Asymptomatic and 2 wks in hospital. Why? Money. People think the jet skis are rip-offs. Welcome to the covid-19/hospital rip-off.

Remember we discussed this ad-nauseum until all of a sudden they started to let the asymptomatic's here in Thailand self isolate if they could and they were supplied with medicines and such and checked on by medical staff, or monitored.

[Swimfan]

2 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Not sure how the group flew back home but it was reported they had done so.  Not sure back then it was a requirement to test before flying to where they were going and if they were nationals of that country, like the Thai Nationals, at one time they did not need to test to fly back to Thailand.  We whinged about it very much on-line at the time about the inequity of a foreigner being required to test 72 hours prior but not a Thai.

Still to many unknowns and hoops to jump for most at the moment. I'm sitting on the fence watching. Yesterday work announced if we go overseas we can not return to work until day 8 of return. Must test day 1 and day 7 if negative can return to work. 

[Crok]

Are taxi drivers required to be double vaccinated?

[stupidfarang]

18 hours ago, wprime said:

Congratulations Kirovs. You're the reason we have these rules, because you can't be trusted to protect yourself from the virus before traveling.

 

Enjoy your 350,000 baht bill.

What a stupid comment, how do you know he has not protected himself? and to make a silly comment "enjoy your 350,000 baht bill" shows your lack of empathy and by the way he is not the reason we have these rules. Covid is the reason

[Russell17au]

6 hours ago, CG1 Blue said:

It seems to have escaped your notice that only a miniscule number of people who test positive will get any symptoms at all, let alone need any treatment. 

If I cut my knee should I be hospitalised for a couple of weeks in case I get Tetanus? 

It's insane blocking up hospitals with asymptomatic 'patients'!

You seem to forget that Thailand set up all those field hospitals and hospitels for those that gave a positive result so that they could be monitored and transferred to a hospital and treated if they showed any symptoms and if they gave 2 consecutive negative results they were released and as most of these field hospitals are now closed because of the low infection numbers anyone who gives a positive result is sent to a hospital to be monitored.

[nickmondo]

19 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

Anyone who visits Thailand at this present time is crazy

100% correct!  Same goes for next year also

[PadPrikKhing]

1 hour ago, Darksidedude said:

How is it people are testing positive when they have a neg result before flying

Most likely they're false positives. That's what makes this so heinous, is that if they're subjecting people to this misery and all the high costs based solely on false positives, that's extremely unethical. The only decent thing to do when/if an arriving traveler's PCR test shows an (extremely unlikely) positive is to follow that up with one or maybe two more tests (at the goverment's expense!) to determine whether that initial test on arrival threw a false positive. The chances are exponentially higher that these positive tests would be false positives rather than true positives, since every traveler already tested negative before departing. This should be beyond obvious to the government—unless, of course, they don't really want to know that the tests were false positives because now they can squeeze up to 350,000 THB from the victims, and are being deliberately obtuse about it for that reason. The problem I have with that scenario though is that they'd be doing that not to personally benefit but to direct that money to the hospitals and hospitels generally.

 

The even darker and more cynical take on this, of course, is the possibility that a small number of insiders could actually be colluding to create positive test results in a certain plausible number of arrivals (0.6%, wasn't it?) so that they can soak either the hapless traveler or his insurance company. Without any kind of oversight structure or agency overseeing what's happening, and assuming they recruit some willing participants in the right departments, this would be more than possible... it would be "like taking candy from a baby." I hate to admit it, but I can envision this worst-case scenario all too easily.

[Danderman123]

2 hours ago, Darksidedude said:

How is it people are testing positive when they have a neg result before flying,

 

How long is the incubation period, like say if you touched someone or something that had C-19 when would you be positive and thats if you did get it

The minimum incubation period is 5 days or so.

[Russell17au]

11 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

I know the word current, but you don't know what contagious means.

What you wrote about asymptomatic people taken to hospitsals is just laughable.

Sue your teachers.

 

 

_{It appears that you are the one that does not know what the word "contagious" means not me}

con·ta·gious

/kənˈtājəs/

adjective

1.

(of a disease) spread from one person or organism to another by direct or indirect contact.

"a contagious infection"

2.

(of an emotion, feeling, or attitude) likely to spread to and affect others.

 

and you seem to forget what the purpose of all those field hospitals and the hospitels that were set up were for. Let me remind you that they were for anyone that gave a "positive result" to be sent so that they could be monitored and further test taken and when there were 2 consecutive "negative " results that person was released from those field hospitals and if the person showed more symptoms they were transferred to a full hospital for treatment and as the numbers of infected people fell those field hospitals and hospitels started to be closed until there is now only the proper hospitals that a person that gives a "positive" result can be sent to be monitored they cannot be allowed to just roam the street spreading this virus and the quarantine places are not set up with the equipement to monitor the person. So it is you that needs to sue your teachers for failing to educate you.

[JCP108]

38 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

You seem to forget that Thailand set up all those field hospitals and hospitels for those that gave a positive result so that they could be monitored and transferred to a hospital and treated if they showed any symptoms and if they gave 2 consecutive negative results they were released and as most of these field hospitals are now closed because of the low infection numbers anyone who gives a positive result is sent to a hospital to be monitored.

Not in my neighborhood in Bangkok. Many locals have tested positive (and not all completely asymptomatic) and all were sent home to self-isolate. All of them. None were sent to the hospital.

[ThailandRyan]

40 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

You seem to forget that Thailand set up all those field hospitals and hospitels for those that gave a positive result so that they could be monitored and transferred to a hospital and treated if they showed any symptoms and if they gave 2 consecutive negative results they were released and as most of these field hospitals are now closed because of the low infection numbers anyone who gives a positive result is sent to a hospital to be monitored.

That has been resolved by allowing those that can to self isolate, at least here in Bangkok.  If they can not the government will place them in a location/facility, of course since they are Thai for the most part it is covered and they get a place to sleep and three meals a day as well as any medicines needed.

[Russell17au]

4 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

That has been resolved by allowing those that can to self isolate, at least here in Bangkok.  If they can not the government will place them in a location/facility, of course since they are Thai for the most part it is covered and they get a place to sleep and three meals a day as well as any medicines needed.

That might be how it is in Bangkok but it is not that way here where I live. But this man and his family are tourists and do not have a residence in Thailand so he cannot self isolate in his home so the only place for him is in a hospital to be monitored and his family sent into quarantine 

[chrisandsu]

4 hours ago, bangkokbonecollector said:

If you want to avoid testing positive then the only thing you can do is self-isolate at home for a period of time before you fly. I understand this is not possible for some as they are now not working from home.

 

As some have previously stated, there is no way in hell you are testing positive for covid from the airports, plane and immigration you have just been through. So every and any precaution you can take in the weeks leading up to your flight will help. I feel that the father probably caught covid from one of his children as is the current situation, at least in the UK.

 

I reckon the extended quarantine due to close proximity to someone who tested positive can be haggled.

 

Chok dee everyone ????

Out of curiosity why can’t you get it on the plane ? Some flights are 20+ hours with recycled air . If anything the flight and airport is where you are almost guaranteed to test positive . 

[Danderman123]

4 minutes ago, chrisandsu said:

Out of curiosity why can’t you get it on the plane ? Some flights are 20+ hours with recycled air . If anything the flight and airport is where you are almost guaranteed to test positive . 

Of course, you can contract Covid on an airplane.

 

But you can’t contract it on an airplane and then test positive the next day.

[Russell17au]

6 minutes ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

whats the time frame between those tests?

From memory I think it was the first test at 3 days and the second test at 10 days and if both those test were negative then the patient was released. I remember being told that the reason for the long timeframe was to allow any symptoms to show and that any symptoms would show within the 10 day timeframe.

[sezze]

3 minutes ago, chrisandsu said:

Out of curiosity why can’t you get it on the plane ? Some flights are 20+ hours with recycled air . If anything the flight and airport is where you are almost guaranteed to test positive . 

no , because you do know the incubation period . It is been mentioned here . It is not visible the 1st second you contract covid ( or any virus that is ) unfortunate . It would be fantastic if it would be and maybe somewhere in lets say 20y it might be , but atm it isnt. 1st you contract the virus , and it goes in your cells . After a few days , the growth is exponential , since your body doesn't know it is there and neither is any of the tests . After a while/couple of days , viral load goes skyhigh , and is detectable . Your body is also producing antibodies if everything is correct , and we go where you know it will . Unless you are flying from 5 destinations for week week in airports , no way 1st test are positive unless you contracted it before . btw , it does have a name , it is called incubation time . It is the time needed for the body to have the virus but not knowing it does have it.

[Capt Rob]

19 hours ago, redsongthaew said:

 

AXA have an excellent policy:

 

https://axaxl.com/insurance/products/security-risks

Here is a link to a on topic article.

Basically it is " Buyer Beware " regarding insurance as they contract out of any Covid related liability.  Unless otherwise stated  https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2021/11/11/a-quick-trip-around-the-covid-changed-world-of-travel-insurance/?

Australian article but relevant.

 

[chrisandsu]

5 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Of course, you can contract Covid on an airplane.

 

But you can’t contract it on an airplane and then test positive the next day.

Why can’t you ? If anything we already know that the drs don’t really have a clue how it’s passed or how long it takes to incubate . 

[ThailandRyan]

17 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

That might be how it is in Bangkok but it is not that way here where I live. But this man and his family are tourists and do not have a residence in Thailand so he cannot self isolate in his home so the only place for him is in a hospital to be monitored and his family sent into quarantine 

exactly, that is the disparity we have been talking about.  I feel bad for him, but if he is positive then he has a chance of infecting others around him.  His family is being sent to quarantine to see if in a few days they test positive as well.