Questions raised over plan to categorise COVID-19 as endemic in Thailand

[webfact]

 

A colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (purple), isolated from a patient sample, at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (Photo by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

 

Chief of the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Diseaseห Health Science Centre, Dr. Thiravat Hemachudha, has raised some questions about the Ministry of Public Health’s plan to reclassify COVID-19 as an endemic disease in Thailand.

 

In his Facebook post today, in response to the National Communicable Disease Committee’s approval yesterday of the criteria which must be met before COVID-19 can be declared to be an endemic disease in Thailand, he raised the following questions:

 

• Will COVID-19 no longer be treated as dangerous infectious disease?
• Is a screening and isolation process still needed?
• Is there still a need to report infection updates?
• If someone needs treatment, will they have to use their Gold Card to apply for it?
• Will there be compensation for businesses affected by COVID-19?
• Will people taking COVID-19 tests have to pay for them?
• Can people still claim compensation from the National Health Security Office (NHSO) for any undesirable side effects from vaccines as they are only for emergency use?

 

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Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/questions-raised-over-plan-to-categorise-covid-19-as-endemic-in-thailand/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-01-28

 

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[Geoffggi]

Am I getting this wrong or are they insinuating that Thailand are possibly jumping the gun on this issue ..............

[Tropicalevo]

Deleted

Edited January 28, 2022 by Tropicalevo

[rodknock]

and pigs can fly!!

[huangnon]

Quote

A colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (purple), isolated from a patient sample, at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (Photo by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Looks like a disease Muppets get..  Sort of 'Kermit with a case of clap'.?

 

Muppets the world over still being terrified by these type of images, btw. ????

 

[swm59nj]

They can and will reclassify it.  But only when the time is right.  Other countries will end up doing the same thing. 

[Trvlr55]

"Some of the preconditions for meeting the endemic criteria include the new infection rate not exceeding 10,000 cases a day, a mortality rate of less than 0.1% of the infection rate and hospitalisations must be less than 10% of the infection rate. Thailand’s daily infections have ranged between 6,000 and 9,000 over the past few weeks."

 

And why shouldn't they begin to reclassify this?

 

Is no point in citing the amount of deaths since the pandemic began. The current variant is or will shortly be 100% of cases. To date, there has been exactly 1 death from the variant; someone had many underlying issues. The vast majority of cases with the current variant, is no symptoms, to something similar to a minor cold, or a scratchy throat.

 

Do we want to continue to keep the world completely locked down, many people with no support system, an not to be able to make a livable wage;

all for something that is "like a cold". It's time to get on with life.

[bangon04]

"and hospitalisations must be less than 10% of the infection rate" 

 

as many others have pointed out - this is very easy to fix in Thailand.....

[RobU]

12 hours ago, Trvlr55 said:

"Some of the preconditions for meeting the endemic criteria include the new infection rate not exceeding 10,000 cases a day, a mortality rate of less than 0.1% of the infection rate and hospitalisations must be less than 10% of the infection rate. Thailand’s daily infections have ranged between 6,000 and 9,000 over the past few weeks."

 

And why shouldn't they begin to reclassify this?

 

Is no point in citing the amount of deaths since the pandemic began. The current variant is or will shortly be 100% of cases. To date, there has been exactly 1 death from the variant; someone had many underlying issues. The vast majority of cases with the current variant, is no symptoms, to something similar to a minor cold, or a scratchy throat.

 

Do we want to continue to keep the world completely locked down, many people with no support system, an not to be able to make a livable wage;

all for something that is "like a cold". It's time to get on with life.

I cannot understand why infection rate is so important no virus has been tested for in the same way as Covid for all we know common Flu infections could be classified as Pandemic but no country tests for Flu to the same extent, My feeling is that Hospital Admission and deaths because of Covid (not WITH Covid, as it is in the UK) are more indicative of a dangerous Pandemic. I fully agree with your assessment

[sirineou]

I don't get it., 

endemic : belongs to a particular people or country.

Pandemic: spread over multiple countries or continents.

Clearly covid is all over the world and a pandemic, how could Thailand or any other country claim that it is not and it is "endemic" to Thailand. 

[Seismic]

17 hours ago, Trvlr55 said:

"Some of the preconditions for meeting the endemic criteria include the new infection rate not exceeding 10,000 cases a day, a mortality rate of less than 0.1% of the infection rate and hospitalisations must be less than 10% of the infection rate. Thailand’s daily infections have ranged between 6,000 and 9,000 over the past few weeks."

 

And why shouldn't they begin to reclassify this?

 

To an epidemiologist, an endemic infection is one in which overall rates are static — not rising, not falling. More precisely, it means that the proportion of people who can get sick balances out the ‘basic reproduction number’ of the virus, the number of individuals that an infected individual would infect, assuming a population in which everyone could get sick. Yes, common colds are endemic. So are Lassa fever, malaria and polio. So was smallpox, until vaccines stamped it out.  Stating that an infection will become endemic says nothing about how long it might take to reach stasis, what the case rates, morbidity levels or death rates will be or, crucially, how much of a population — and which sectors — will be susceptible. Nor does it suggest guaranteed stability: there can still be disruptive waves from endemic infections, as seen with the US measles outbreak in 2019. 

[unblocktheplanet]

Other variants are sure to come because of rich countries' selfishness.

[Cherrytreeview]

5 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Other variants are sure to come because of rich countries' selfishness.

Like developing vaccines and therapeutics and donating them to third world toilets like Thailand?

In case you have forgotten, Thailand didn't join Covax and couldn't be bothered spending it's foreign reserves on said vaccines.

That's why it remains behind the developed world.

Stop the self pity and maybe familiarise yourself with the facts.

[unblocktheplanet]

23 minutes ago, Cherrytreeview said:

Like developing vaccines and therapeutics and donating them to third world toilets like Thailand?

In case you have forgotten, Thailand didn't join Covax and couldn't be bothered spending it's foreign reserves on said vaccines.

That's why it remains behind the developed world.

Stop the self pity and maybe familiarise yourself with the facts.

For sure, I blame Thailand for the generals' greed over vaccines. I was primarily referring to Africa & South America. The unvaxxed there will sink the rest of us with new variants.

[kimamey]

On 1/28/2022 at 6:32 AM, huangnon said:

Looks like a disease Muppets get..  Sort of 'Kermit with a case of clap'.?

 

Muppets the world over still being terrified by these type of images, btw. ????

 

When you say the Muppets are you thinking of any in particular? That we on this  forum might know maybe?  ????