Tourism group asks government to reconsider scrapping Test and Go; opposition MP urges compensation

[webfact]

 

By Erich Parpart

 

Tourism operators are urging the government to reconsider its quarantine policy and avoid another nationwide lockdown.

 

The government temporarily halted the one-night quarantine procedure called the Test and Go program for overseas tourists in a bid to prevent the spread of Omicron.

 

But tourist groups worry that the move could spell economic doom for many of their members who have already been hard hit by the pandemic.

 

Full story: https://www.thaienquirer.com/36116/tourism-group-asks-government-to-reconsider-scrapping-test-and-go-opposition-mp-urges-compensation/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Enquirer 2021-12-28

 

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[86Tiger]

 

 

Economic doom is spelled:

 

c-o-v-i-d c-h-a-o-s

 

 

 

 

 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

But tourist groups worry that the move could spell economic doom for many of their members who have already been hard hit by the pandemic

Get out of the bar business.. simple.

[DLock]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Tourism operators are urging the government to reconsider its quarantine policy

They will certainly reconsider it on the 4th January...and extend the current quarantine for another month or 2, and close all the bars and stop serving alcohol in "restaurants".

 

Omicron will rip through Thailand worse than any previous variant.

 

If you can sell your bar today...sell it.

[cedel]

48 minutes ago, DLock said:

They will certainly reconsider it on the 4th January...and extend the current quarantine for another month or 2, and close all the bars and stop serving alcohol in "restaurants".

 

Omicron will rip through Thailand worse than any previous variant.

 

If you can sell your bar today...sell it.

No, I don't agree. It's already known and confirmed by now than "Omicron" , although spreads about 3x faster , is much less dangerous and less able to send people in hospital in ICU or to death though...so, if clever and logic (but are they ...;- ?) , they shoud reinstall the test and go procedure quickly, also, the incubation of the omicron is muc shorter than the previous variants (sometimes just a few days), and is not worse on vaccinating people than a cold of a few days....

[RichardColeman]

Has anyone got the actual figures for people arriving on the test and go now testing positive for omicron later ? is it 1/100, 1/1000. 10,000, 100,000. Without seeing the actual data cancelling it seems a huge knee jerk in my opinion. There will always be a risk. my own opinion they will keep the test and go cancelled for another 2 weeks after 4th and then see the data - the GDP will be dropping hourly after that

[cedel]

17 minutes ago, DLock said:

There are plenty of online resources to argue any narrative, but recent experts suggest that Omicron spreads 70x faster than Delta, and there is no conclusive evidence that Omicron is a milder variant and is causing infections in triple vaccinations and people that have already recovered from COVID.

 

I guess time will tell who is right.

I would like to see your "plenty of sources", I just heard or read about conclusions from Australian, South-Africanand a UK research, even the OMS and Fauci said omicron is less deadly, less agresive...And never I read 70x more conagious, I heard 3x more contagious...70x makes casi non-sense ...

[ThailandRyan]

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Get out of the bar business.. simple.

You and I both know that it is much more than the bar business...wink wink grin

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, DLock said:

They will certainly reconsider it on the 4th January...and extend the current quarantine for another month or 2, and close all the bars and stop serving alcohol in "restaurants".

 

Omicron will rip through Thailand worse than any previous variant.

 

If you can sell your bar today...sell it.

Either a true sarcastic post or a doom and gloomer.

[tomyami]

Report in the Guardian saying that many scientists think the U.K. has already peaked. If that is the case, then the downward slide will be pretty rapid, as it was in South Africa. We are at the most 2 weeks behind the U.K. I can see our peak coming in early to mid January. We will be out the other end of this by the end of January. I really don’t see lockdowns on the horizon or schools closing. Covid has evolved into a strain of the common cold in the same way the Russian flu did at the end of the 19th century.

Quarantine for a flu, US has already reduced isolation time to 5 days.

I hope they change approach, fully vaxed and 72hour tested wont open flood gates few are traveling only the quality will come i know some expats would like to keep out tourists but the untested neighbours crossing pourous borders are the real threat but it a milder 1 than before on real sciencetific evidence.

[wasabi]

3 minutes ago, tomyami said:

Report in the Guardian saying that many scientists think the U.K. has already peaked. If that is the case, then the downward slide will be pretty rapid, as it was in South Africa.

Hopefully they're going to need a recycling plant for all those stupid temperature machines once this hysteria abates.

[MrJ2U]

2 hours ago, cedel said:

No, I don't agree. It's already known and confirmed by now than "Omicron" , although spreads about 3x faster , is much less dangerous and less able to send people in hospital in ICU or to death though...so, if clever and logic (but are they ...;- ?) , they shoud reinstall the test and go procedure quickly, also, the incubation of the omicron is muc shorter than the previous variants (sometimes just a few days), and is not worse on vaccinating people than a cold of a few days....

Hospitals in the West are about to be completely overwhelmed by Omicron patients.

 

Thailand will definitely not be able to handle the incoming patience along with multitude of car and motorcycle accidents during the holidays.

 

"Boston hospitals are on an “unsustainable” path as COVID-19 cases, driven by the extremely contagious omicron variant, skyrocket across the region, warns a local emergency medicine doctor."

 

https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/12/26/unsustainable-boston-hospitals-could-face-disaster-as-coronavirus-wastewater-shoots-up-and-virus-cases-explode/

 

"Hospitals face being “overwhelmed”, Sajid Javid has warned after NHS staff sickness from Covid rose by 50 per cent in one week and the fast-spreading Omicron variant fuels more than 1,000 admissions a day."

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-emergency-staff-sickness-omicron-b1981637.html

 

ITS going to be a messy beginning to 2022.

[RichardColeman]

2 hours ago, tomyami said:

Quarantine for a flu, US has already reduced isolation time to 5 days.

I think most of us wanting to return could put up with 5 days rather than wait months for test and go again

[Glassjaw]

1 hour ago, MrJ2U said:

Hospitals in the West are about to be completely overwhelmed by Omicron patients.

 

Thailand will definitely not be able to handle the incoming patience along with multitude of car and motorcycle accidents during the holidays.

 

"Boston hospitals are on an “unsustainable” path as COVID-19 cases, driven by the extremely contagious omicron variant, skyrocket across the region, warns a local emergency medicine doctor."

 

https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/12/26/unsustainable-boston-hospitals-could-face-disaster-as-coronavirus-wastewater-shoots-up-and-virus-cases-explode/

 

"Hospitals face being “overwhelmed”, Sajid Javid has warned after NHS staff sickness from Covid rose by 50 per cent in one week and the fast-spreading Omicron variant fuels more than 1,000 admissions a day."

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-emergency-staff-sickness-omicron-b1981637.html

 

ITS going to be a messy beginning to 2022.

This is more due to lengthy isolation periods for staff than actual beds being taken up with severe Covid patients. The nhs is often under stress, even pre pandemic times it struggles in winter. If we are heading out of the peak of infection in uk then it seems to not be so bleak.

[spidermike007]

Canceling test and go seems like a monumental mistake, a further sabotage of tourism, and a form of sadism. The leaders are cowards, ultra timid, weak and unable to govern.

 

Too little is known about this new variant to take such an extreme action. And regardless of what they do, it will leak into Thailand through the porous borders, manned by super corrupt Prayuth men. Time to admit Prayuth, Phiphat and Anutin are the real danger to the nation, and the destroyers of it's once dynamic economy. Once. Jobs gone, lives devastated, happiness gone for millions of Thais. 

[Stargeezr]

The USA is all about the money, as they do not want their economy to collapse. Whether the US population

loses 1000 people or more a day, does not seem to matter.  I will not be going into the USA for at least 4 years, as I think it will 

take that long for COVID to quit killing their people, especially the unvaccinated who just love their freedom so much.

  Even here in Canada the Omicron variant is just getting started and cases are spiking all over the country.

    I feel so sorry for the health care workers who are burned out, and are not getting much relief from their

work.   In Thailand if the new rules are 3 to 5 days in a hotel on arrival with another PCR test before being

released, may be the best way to keep some control on this latest variant of COVID. Of course the numbers of

tourists may quickly dwindle then.  After all high season is now, until April, so Thailand has some 

difficult decisions to make.

 

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

the sceintific truth is that there is no point to close the country, once it is

confirmed that the variant is spreading locally.

that is whythe U,S, and many other countries, not so advanced like thailand but still

modern, scrapped all restrictions on travel from africa and else where.

the point in the initial closure is to gain time in case of a serious outbreak.

but once the omikron is in thailand than there is no point in blocking the borderd,

besides showing to the nation how good we are in guarding against the ai farang.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

16 minutes ago, Stargeezr said:

The USA is all about the money, as they do not want their economy to collapse.

you are right. thailand is not all about money like the u.s..

thailand is jai dee mak mak.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

5 hours ago, tomyami said:

Report in the Guardian saying that many scientists think the U.K. has already peaked. If that is the case, then the downward slide will be pretty rapid, as it was in South Africa.

if those idiot sceintists in s.africa were not rushing to tell the whole world

about a "new dangerous variant, propably with the hope of gaining nobel prize,

than nobody would even notice this omikron nonsense.

[Albert Zweistein]

6 hours ago, tomyami said:

Report in the Guardian saying that many scientists think the U.K. has already peaked. If that is the case, then the downward slide will be pretty rapid, as it was in South Africa. We are at the most 2 weeks behind the U.K. I can see our peak coming in early to mid January. We will be out the other end of this by the end of January. I really don’t see lockdowns on the horizon or schools closing. Covid has evolved into a strain of the common cold in the same way the Russian flu did at the end of the 19th century.

Quarantine for a flu, US has already reduced isolation time to 5 days.

I hope they change approach, fully vaxed and 72hour tested wont open flood gates few are traveling only the quality will come i know some expats would like to keep out tourists but the untested neighbours crossing pourous borders are the real threat but it a milder 1 than before on real sciencetific evidence.

UK has already peaked ? 129,471 infections today !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Albert Zweistein]

8 minutes ago, CG1 Blue said:

We shouldn't be focussing on infection numbers now!

 

In the UK the weekly average death rate is down about 30%. 

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-deaths-uk-history-oxford-b1983413.html

“The horrific scenes that we saw a year ago – intensive care units being full, lots of people dying prematurely – that is now history in my view and I think we should reassured that that’s likely to continue,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday.

He said that the disease “does appear to be less severe”, arguing that most patients “don’t need high-flow oxygen” and “the average length of stay is apparently three days”, adding: “This is not the same disease as we were seeing a year ago.”

 

You'll also see in that report that many of the 'Covid patients' in hospitals are people who were admitted for other ailments but happen to test positive for Covid while in the hospital. 

 

If only the media were not desperate to keep pushing the negative narrative about Omicron ????

 

 

You mean not publishing the infection numbers ?

[EricTh]

Another lockdown will spell disaster for Thailand. I remember there were many who committed suicide back in 2020.

 

First the government encourages everyone to get vaccinated, now that they have, the govt is saying the vaccinations are 'ineffective'? ????

 

Learn to live with the virus because the vaccination do protect us and the Omicron isn't as severe as the Delta. 

 

Runny nose, coughing and slight fever??? No big deal!

 

It's overkill to lockdown the country like some countries I am seeing now. More people will die from suicide due to economic problems.

Edited December 28, 2021 by EricTh

[Scott]

Off-topic posts reported and removed.  The topic is about Thailand.

 

[DLock]

13 hours ago, cedel said:

I would like to see your "plenty of sources", I just heard or read about conclusions from Australian, South-Africanand a UK research, even the OMS and Fauci said omicron is less deadly, less agresive...And never I read 70x more conagious, I heard 3x more contagious...70x makes casi non-sense ...

There you go Champ..."plenty of sources"...enjoy.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-15/omicron-infects-70-times-faster-but-is-less-severe-study-says

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/omicron-variant-found-to-grow-70-times-faster-than-delta-in-respiratory-tissue/

 

https://nypost.com/2021/12/16/omicron-infects-70-times-faster-than-delta-but-likely-less-severe-study/

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/12/16/covid-sports-leagues-vaccinations-omicron-variant/8917732002/

 

 

[DLock]

13 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Either a true sarcastic post or a doom and gloomer.

Facts don't lie there, Scooter.

 

But keep telling yourself Omicron is nothing...time will show.

[MrJ2U]

10 hours ago, Glassjaw said:

This is more due to lengthy isolation periods for staff than actual beds being taken up with severe Covid patients. The nhs is often under stress, even pre pandemic times it struggles in winter. If we are heading out of the peak of infection in uk then it seems to not be so bleak.

Will see.

 

But news of hospitals being overwhelmed all over the world are being reported this morning despite having the quarantine period.

[Sheryl]

14 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Has anyone got the actual figures for people arriving on the test and go now testing positive for omicron later ? is it 1/100, 1/1000. 10,000, 100,000. Without seeing the actual data cancelling it seems a huge knee jerk in my opinion. There will always be a risk. my own opinion they will keep the test and go cancelled for another 2 weeks after 4th and then see the data - the GDP will be dropping hourly after that

Correct - it will need more time to have meaningful data (assuming meaningful data is what will drive decisions, an assumption one cannot really make here).

 

They will only have  data for the very small sample of people who arrived after Dec 21 and have already had their day 5-7 test. So almost no data now (and only for overall positive, not Omicron as that takes lengthy subsequent testing) , and still a small sample by the meeting on the 4th.

 

There are really 2 issues: (1) % that get the second test  and (2) % positive on the second test.

 

There could have been data going back to the very start of T&G had a system been put in place to enforce and track the requirement for an ATK on day (?5?7) but that was not done, a major lapse on government's part and one which meant they then had to decide how to respond to Omicron in something of an information vacuum.

[Sheryl]

5 hours ago, EricTh said:

....

 

First the government encourages everyone to get vaccinated, now that they have...

But they haven't. Only about 60% nationwide have had 2 doses.  Never mind the recommended booster.

[EricTh]

13 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

But they haven't. Only about 60% nationwide have had 2 doses.  Never mind the recommended booster.

Huge Jackman got Covid and all he got was just flu-like symptoms. So I think it is overkill to scrap the test-and-go.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/28/arts/hugh-jackman-covid-the-music-man.html

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, DLock said:

Facts don't lie there, Scooter.

 

But keep telling yourself Omicron is nothing...time will show.

Read the post above that has many links explaining things.