Field hospitals Empty and Abandoned

[atpeace]

Months ago 3 large tent hospitals/quarantine areas popped up within 3 kilometers of my home  in NE Thailand.  Might be more but doubt it because I know the area quite well.  They all were put together with good intentions and were quite nice.  For the first couple months they tried to force some travelers into them and as for people that had Covid, there might have been a few over the first few months.  After a couple months it became obvious the huge structures were pointless.  At this point they are 100% empty. They kept security around to watch over them for a while but went around yesterday and they look like scenes form a zombie apocalypse.  Turned over tables, thousands of unused water bottles, tattered red flags, and misc stuff everywhere.

 

I'm just making an observation and assume outside of Bangkok this is the norm.  Were they needed? Obviously not but the fear of Covid in rural Thailand is extreme.  I would be curious of the death rate in NE Thailand.  Does anyone personally know of a person that died in NE Thailand.  A friend of a friend of a friend...

[Mentors65]

just wait, Omikron has arrived in Amsterdam. 

[Scott]

I don't personally know anyone who died but my partner received a call from family to tell him that his cousin had died of Covid in Korat area and another family member was in the hospital with it, but doing OK. 

 

I know that a while back there were a lot of rumors about people dying, but nobody ever had a name and then when they were vaccinating, again people were dying, but nobody had any names.  I suspect this was just fear-mongering.  The area is pretty small and everyone knows everyone else.  

[atpeace]

5 minutes ago, Mentors65 said:

just wait, Omikron has arrived in Amsterdam. 

Sarcasm?  Just can't think of a reason to fear this rural Thailand.  Might be wrong but doubt it.

[atpeace]

2 minutes ago, Scott said:

I don't personally know anyone who died but my partner received a call from family to tell him that his cousin had died of Covid in Korat area and another family member was in the hospital with it, but doing OK. 

 

I know that a while back there were a lot of rumors about people dying, but nobody ever had a name and then when they were vaccinating, again people were dying, but nobody had any names.  I suspect this was just fear-mongering.  The area is pretty small and everyone knows everyone else.  

Interesting and wonder if anyone else knows of someone personally and even if it is through a friend, partner...  

[farmerjo]

I don't know of anyone who has died.

A village 3 down from me currently has a security of health workers and the law at all entrance and exit points.

Inside the village it seems business as usual with large numbers working together cutting rice.

Elections this sunday so the masses will be out everywhere.

[Airalee]

If you Google “Bangkok Covid field hospital” and then look at the images, all you will see is tons of empty rooms.

 

 

[mtls2005]

Imagine there was some corruption, a la footsal court-style, with funds budgeted and allocated, and then spent/skimmed? Orders from Bangkok and all that.

 

Field hospitals in/around Bangkok seemed quite busy, during the Delta surge. One near us (Bang Phli/Samut Prakan - just off Bang Na-Trat) was quite large and seemed to be always active, seems now unused.

 

 

[mtls2005]

4 minutes ago, Airalee said:

If you Google “Bangkok Covid field hospital” and then look at the images, all you will see is tons of empty rooms.

Most of those photos were taken during or just after they were put together. Photos with citizen/patients were probably discouraged for privacy reasons? But they were out there.

 

 

[Airalee]

3 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Most of those photos were taken during or just after they were put together. Photos with citizen/patients were probably discouraged for privacy reasons? But they were out there.

 

 

Surely some Thai with an IPhone would have taken pictures when “quarantined” and it would have made the rounds on Facebook.  But nope.  

[atpeace]

1 minute ago, Airalee said:

If you Google “Bangkok Covid field hospital” and then look at the images, all you will see is tons of empty rooms.

 

 

I thought it might be different in BK.  Again, good intentions but really doubt the need.  Millions have died of Covid and excess deaths are up but IMO the fear of Covid far surpasses the real risks.  I asked a TV member to go take a picture of Covid field hospitals that were full like he thought.  His answer - I was crazy and this was a dangerous thing to do.  Honestly, having no knowledge other than empty tents in rural Thailand, I accepted it may be perilous in BK.  This was months ago and maybe it was different.

[atpeace]

7 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Imagine there was some corruption, a la footsal court-style, with funds budgeted and allocated, and then spent/skimmed? Orders from Bangkok and all that.

 

Field hospitals in/around Bangkok seemed quite busy, during the Delta surge. One near us (Bang Phli/Samut Prakan - just off Bang Na-Trat) was quite large and seemed to be always active, seems now unused.

 

 

Interesting, did you see patients or activity.  The field hospitals here were very active but the beds were empty.  There was money being passed around to keep them active.  Not really corruption but more simple waste.

[Mentors65]

42 minutes ago, atpeace said:

Sarcasm?  Just can't think of a reason to fear this rural Thailand.  Might be wrong but doubt it.

Sarcasm is needed sometimes 

[Denim]

49 minutes ago, atpeace said:

At this point they are 100% empty.

I think this was the case in the UK also with largely empty ' nightingale hospitals '

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/09/nhs-nightingale-hospitals-to-close-from-next-month

 

 

 

 

[JayClay]

Better to build them and not need them, than to not build them and need them... ????????‍♂️

[Denim]

Wifes  friend ( not vaccinated ) and her husband got covid.  Put in temporary hospital ( now closed ) and both recovered.  Now both vaccinated.

 

Our Swedish friends ( He Swede she Thai ) both got covid. Isolated at home and recovered. Now vaccinated.

 

Those are 4 people we know personally. There have been others in our village ( Bangkok returnees ) but we don't know them personally.

[BritManToo]

16 minutes ago, Airalee said:

Surely some Thai with an IPhone would have taken pictures when “quarantined” and it would have made the rounds on Facebook.  But nope.  

One of my woman's University friends was grabbed and incarcerated after testing positive, no symptoms. That was in Chiang Mai, she took her clothing and personal items, but wasn't allowed to see her. She sent us photos, the place was packed with people sitting on camp beds. 

[mtls2005]

OK, I missed the dog-whistle on this one. My bad.

 

 

15 minutes ago, Airalee said:

Surely some Thai with an IPhone would have taken pictures when “quarantined”

Yes, there were a lot of in quarantine photos.

 

 

13 minutes ago, atpeace said:

Interesting, did you see patients or activity. 

Yes, buses, vans, patients queued outside for admission.

 

I do know three people who ended up quarantined at this specific facility.

 

 

[Ohyesuare]

11 minutes ago, JayClay said:

Better to build them and not need them, than to not build them and need them... ????????‍♂️

If you build them, they will come.

[placeholder]

1 hour ago, atpeace said:

Sarcasm?  Just can't think of a reason to fear this rural Thailand.  Might be wrong but doubt it.

Why single out rural areas? Delta is prevalent all over Thailand. If Omicron proves to be more transmissible and a lot more resistant to vaccination then why wouldn't it pose a threat to rural areas?

[placeholder]

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/WLD/world/death-rate

[ukrules]

Stories of empty field hospitals constructed in haste spread across the full history of pandemics going back centuries.

 

The point is they're not always empty and when you need them you really want them to be there, that's a real field hospital though - not what we have here.

 

What they have here are not used to 'treat' the very ill, they're confinement camps because the people are not trusted by the government to stay at home while they have the virus.

 

[Moonlover]

The image below may give a clue to what really happened in north east Thailand. This shows that yesterday there were no infections in Sakon Nakhon province and going back for a few weeks now we have been below 20 a day and often in single figures.

 

But what more interesting are the small numbers in the boxes. The orange box shows the total number of cases this year, 7,811. The number in the pink box shows the number of imported cases, those that came home from the highly infected regions, 6,316 The orange box shows the number of local transmissions, 1,144 and finally the blue box which were hospital walk ins, 351. To summarize:

 

Imported cases:        6,316

Local transmissions: 1,144

Walk ins:                      351

Total:                          7,811

 

What is clear from these figures is that there was no significant spread locally of the virus, which explains why neither we, nor anyone we know around here has been infected. We do not know of a single case within 20kms.

 

If this is indicative of the rest of the north east region, it suggests to me that there was no major outbreak here, Just a lot of folks coming home and going straight into quarantine.

[atpeace]

47 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Why single out rural areas? Delta is prevalent all over Thailand. If Omicron proves to be more transmissible and a lot more resistant to vaccination then why wouldn't it pose a threat to rural areas?

You know the answer and me answering is futile.  Many here get that Covid has killed people but people like yourself need to calm down and start looking at data.

[atpeace]

30 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Stories of empty field hospitals constructed in haste spread across the full history of pandemics going back centuries.

 

The point is they're not always empty and when you need them you really want them to be there, that's a real field hospital though - not what we have here.

 

What they have here are not used to 'treat' the very ill, they're confinement camps because the people are not trusted by the government to stay at home while they have the virus.

 

OK and your point? The field hospitals have always been empty in my area and nobody is dying that I even know of through an extended friend of friend chain.  I don't know what is happening in Bangkok and can only speak for my semi-rural area.  

 

I don't think many of us have an issue with the field hospitals.  I for one commend the effort.  It is interesting looking at it now and see how they were not needed and the fear that they caused.  People really think people are dying all around them here in NE Thailand yet I know of no one that knows of a person that died of Covid.  Strange?

[placeholder]

15 minutes ago, atpeace said:

You know the answer and me answering is futile.  Many here get that Covid has killed people but people like yourself need to calm down and start looking at data.

No I don't know the answer. Why did you single out rural areas relatively safe from the new variant?

[atpeace]

8 hours ago, placeholder said:

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/WLD/world/death-rate

Exactly what I stated.  You only have to go back to 2013  and "every" previous year and the risk of death was greater.  How did peple cope with all the death in 2012,2011, 2010... 

[Callmeishmael]

Here in Bangkok a friend's mother died of covid and his father spent a couple of weeks in the hospital.  Another friend's mother was on a ventilator for a few weeks, but slowly recovered.

 

A couple of foreign friend also got sick with covid, one (a half-Thai with a Thai passport) went to a field hospital with his wife and 3 kids.  The other one didn't tell anyone, just self-isolated in his room until he recovered.

[ukrules]

54 minutes ago, Callmeishmael said:

The other one didn't tell anyone, just self-isolated in his room until he recovered.

Yeah I heard nearly everyone is doing this, the last thing they want is to be tested and found to be infected.

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, atpeace said:

OK and your point? The field hospitals have always been empty in my area and nobody is dying that I even know of through an extended friend of friend chain.  I don't know what is happening in Bangkok and can only speak for my semi-rural area.  

 

I don't think many of us have an issue with the field hospitals.  I for one commend the effort.  It is interesting looking at it now and see how they were not needed and the fear that they caused.  People really think people are dying all around them here in NE Thailand yet I know of no one that knows of a person that died of Covid.  Strange?

My point is that field hospitals are always constructed yet rarely used or needed.

 

But when they do need them like in the 1918 pandemic then they really need them.