Public Encouraged to Continue Wearing Masks

[webfact]

 

by Natthaphon Sangpolsit

    

BANGKOK (NNT) - The general public is being reminded to continue wearing face masks amid the lifting of other disease control measures that had been in place.

 

Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha asked everyone to continue wearing face coverings, especially when engaging in public activities or at large gatherings. His remarks came during his visit to Japan to attend the Nikkei Forum.

 

The premier asked schools to continue looking after the welfare of their students, following reports of a slight increase of new cases one week after the start of the new school semester.

 

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New clusters have mainly been linked to boarding schools, where infected students are currently being isolated and treated without the entire school needing to suspend activities.

 

Gen Prayut also asked schools to remind students of prevention measures against COVID-19, as he called for cooperation from all sides to ensure health and safety at schools.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-05-28

 

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[ikke1959]

Let the people decide if hey want to wear a mask or not.. scrap it and in public transport, big gatherings wear a mask... and everywhere else up to the person...... Go forward please instead of stand still.. Tourists will not come if they are obliged to wear a mask 

[tomyami]

the mask is no longer effective when everything is open, when have covid people test and isolate.

Those who want to mask can do, its time to move on

[SooKee]

The wearing of masks my TV presenters and news readers is beyond bizarre!  Gotta keep up the population conditioning.  Amazing Thailand - Hub of Mask Wearing ????

[clokwise]

7 minutes ago, SooKee said:

The wearing of masks my TV presenters and news readers is beyond bizarre!  Gotta keep up the population conditioning.  Amazing Thailand - Hub of Mask Wearing ????

I've been moaning about this for a long time. Every other country in the world (except Afghanistan) has figured out how to do TV production without on-air wearing masks, so surely Thailand can do it. Unless, perhaps, there are secret orders/agreements to keep the masks on - to ensure the public remain fearful and compliant.

 

[SooKee]

11 minutes ago, clokwise said:

I've been moaning about this for a long time. Every other country in the world (except Afghanistan) has figured out how to do TV production without on-air wearing masks, so surely Thailand can do it. Unless, perhaps, there are secret orders/agreements to keep the masks on - to ensure the public remain fearful and compliant.

 

Especially at this stage in the game.  I think your'e right, they get told the line to take.  Same as the daily serving up of poor driving, punch ups, domestic disputes and pest control for lizards / snake stories as 'news', as opposed to the real items of interest with which news channels in other countries would have a field day with.  'News' here is largely just drivel, having to be masked up to deliver it is really taking the P.

[jcmj]

I guess he thought it was ok not to wear a mask on his visit to the states but a must do when in Thailand. Sounds like he saying something about Thailand. Hmmmm wonder what that could be. 

[Will B Good]

Definitely noticed a general relaxation of mask wearing in BKK.......and now arrogant, selfish 'two week' tourists are arriving....hardly any are wearing them.

[vandeventer]

39 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Definitely noticed a general relaxation of mask wearing in BKK.......and now arrogant, selfish 'two week' tourists are arriving....hardly any are wearing them.

Well, lock them up ,as it is a good way to  keep the tourist here especially the rich ones.

[aussiexpat]

So it's mandated for me to wear a mask on the 600 metre walk from my Condo to my favourite bar, even though I don't go within 10 metres of someone, but then I'm free to mingle maskless with 50 others for hours of drinking and fun...yep, sounds like Thailand common sense

[Johnnyngai]

Ordinary Thais have no access to world class medical care, have little in terms of social safety nets. 

Need to keep double masking until catch up with wealthy western countries.  

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, tomyami said:

the mask is no longer effective when everything is open, when have covid people test and isolate.

Those who want to mask can do, its time to move on

I value my lungs, PM2.5 still exists, and effects more than Covid.

[2long]

3 hours ago, SooKee said:

The wearing of masks my TV presenters and news readers is beyond bizarre!  Gotta keep up the population conditioning.  Amazing Thailand - Hub of Mask Wearing ????

Yep! I agree!
BUT... because Thais are not encouraged to think rationally for themselves, it's showing them how they should behave. Crazy I know.. but that's what it's about.

 

Those in charge not only don't credit their citizens with any brains to think for themselves, they also secretly know that plenty of Thais do have brains to think, and that's what scares those in charge. Scare enough sheep, and the flock will follow obediently, or be ostracized for not doing so.

[brewsterbudgen]

Encourage us all you like, but if it's no longer mandatory and as other countries have shown it to be entirely unnecessary, I'll remove mine.  I also hope they remove the requirement for school kids to spend their whole day masked up.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1. It's irrelevant to judge what measures Thailand should follow based on what kind of protective measures are being used in other countries. The protective measures here need to be based on the local COVID outbreak situation here, not what's occurring thousands of miles away.

 

2. Regarding Thai TV broadcasters and their on-camera face mask wear, I would imagine at least part of the reason for that is trying to set a good example for the general public, showing them that face mask wear is a prudent public health measure when you're going to be in close indoor contact with others.

 

3. While they don't protect against COVID 100%, properly fit and worn face masks definitely have been shown to reduce the spread of COVID. The better the mask, the better the protection, with N95 type respirator masks being the best available to the general public. But even lesser masks help to varying extents, as shown below:

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7106e1.htm?s_cid=mm7106e1_w

[SooKee]

I'm less inclined to believe claims by bodies from any county these days.  Mask wearing is peddled as being effective but it's clear that very little by why of evidence based assessment of the actual effectiveness of mask wearing policies has actually been carried out at all.  The below comments are from an article reviewing a book by one author who has carried out some considerable research on the subject and has published the findings.  It's just one persons views of course, just as the chart above is just one table from one body who's claims have been shown to be, at times, questionable. :
 

"For instance, Miller compiles the astonishing claims made by Dr. Robert Redfield, who directed the CDC until just a year ago. In September 2020, Redfield described masks as “the most powerful public health tool we have”, claimed they offered “more Covid protection than vaccines would”, and stated: “If we [wore masks] for 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks, we’d bring this pandemic under control.” While they may not rule out some small effects of masking, Miller’s charts expose claims such as Redfield’s as delusional propaganda.

 

Likewise, those sceptical of what Miller’s comparative graphs can teach us should be even more suspicious of the shoddy studies published by the CDC over the past two years. For example, one study claimed to show a decline in Covid cases in certain Arizona counties as a result of mask mandates. But it failed to note that cases declined at a similar rate over the same period in Arizona counties without a mandate. In the months following the completion of the study, moreover, cases rose well above prior levels in counties with mandates still in place. Such studies produced a mirage of success by limiting the period of study, conflating correlation and causation, and avoiding comparisons with non-mandate counties.

 

The most disastrous failing of the experts has been their lack of curiosity about the actual results of the policies they have staked their reputations on. Mask mandates have been, in Miller’s phrase, “a population-wide experiment”, but few within the US scientific and medical establishment have seemed interested in parsing the resulting data, leaving that task to outsiders like Miller. Astonishingly, there have been just two randomised controlled trials on masking published since the pandemic began. One found no significant effect at all, while the other found a small effect of 11% for surgical masks and no significant effect for cloth ones. The first was largely ignored or dismissed, while the second was optimistically glossed as proving that masks work."

Don't plan to engage in further discussion about this as, at the end of the day, we all chose to believe what we choose to believe and, on forums at least, some people are all too precious about them being right and anyone that disagrees with their view being wrong with countless back and forth posts until one party caves in.  I have my own views but I certainly don't think that one set of stats from one body ('post a stat, that's a fact') , regardless of which body it is, is enough to state that mask wearing is effective per se in such a yes/no, black/white manner, particularly when that body is the CDC.  

 

In some particular situations masks I'm sure masks can reduce the chances of infection to a degree (e.g. an infected person wearing a mask while in proximity to others indoors MAY reduce the chances of infecting others somewhat), but mask wearing being effective enough to make it a nationwide mandate, I'm not convinced on that one.  Sledgehammer to crack a nut IMO.  The trouble is, having a largely situational mask wearing mandate would likely lead to those who should be wearing them not bothering, hence IMO 95% of the people are made to suffer with wearing them when it's only perhaps necessary for 5% in specific situations.

 

This comment, also from the review, has a ring of truth about it:

"It is not difficult to see why mask mandates proved irresistible to politicians. Masks are the perfect form of hygiene theatre, conveying an intuitive sense of safety regardless of demonstrable efficacy at scale. They also offload responsibility for controlling the pandemic to ordinary people. The overcrowding of ICUs can be blamed on the bad behavior of “anti-maskers”, rather than on the allocation of resources by governments and hospital CEOs. When cases and deaths spike, it is the fault of the citizenry, not the leadership."

For anyone interested the article from which the quote from above was taken is here:

https://unherd.com/2022/02/were-masks-a-waste-of-time/

 

Another interesting article here:

https://www.maciverinstitute.com/2021/06/can-we-finally-admit-that-mask-wearing-was-pointless/

Edited May 30, 2022 by SooKee

[transam]

5 minutes ago, SooKee said:

I'm less inclined to believe claims by bodies from any county these days.  Mask wearing is peddled as being effective but it's clear that very little by why of evidence based assessment of the actual effectiveness of mask wearing policies has actually been carried out at all.  The below comments are from an article reviewing a book by one author who has carried out some considerable research on the subject and has published the findings.  It's just one persons views of course, just as the chart above is just one table from one body who's claims have been shown to be, at times, questionable. :
 

"For instance, Miller compiles the astonishing claims made by Dr. Robert Redfield, who directed the CDC until just a year ago. In September 2020, Redfield described masks as “the most powerful public health tool we have”, claimed they offered “more Covid protection than vaccines would”, and stated: “If we [wore masks] for 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks, we’d bring this pandemic under control.” While they may not rule out some small effects of masking, Miller’s charts expose claims such as Redfield’s as delusional propaganda.

 

Likewise, those sceptical of what Miller’s comparative graphs can teach us should be even more suspicious of the shoddy studies published by the CDC over the past two years. For example, one study claimed to show a decline in Covid cases in certain Arizona counties as a result of mask mandates. But it failed to note that cases declined at a similar rate over the same period in Arizona counties without a mandate. In the months following the completion of the study, moreover, cases rose well above prior levels in counties with mandates still in place. Such studies produced a mirage of success by limiting the period of study, conflating correlation and causation, and avoiding comparisons with non-mandate counties.

 

The most disastrous failing of the experts has been their lack of curiosity about the actual results of the policies they have staked their reputations on. Mask mandates have been, in Miller’s phrase, “a population-wide experiment”, but few within the US scientific and medical establishment have seemed interested in parsing the resulting data, leaving that task to outsiders like Miller. Astonishingly, there have been just two randomised controlled trials on masking published since the pandemic began. One found no significant effect at all, while the other found a small effect of 11% for surgical masks and no significant effect for cloth ones. The first was largely ignored or dismissed, while the second was optimistically glossed as proving that masks work."

Don't plan to engage in further discussion about this as, at the end of the day, we all chose to believe what we choose to believe and, on forums at least, some people are all too precious about them being right and anyone that disagrees with their view being wrong with countless back and forth posts until one party caves in.  I have my own views but I certainly don't think that one set of stats from one body, regardless of which body it is, is enough to state that mask wearing is effective per se in such a yes/no, black/white manner, particularly when that body is the CDC.  

 

In some particular situations masks I'm sure masks can reduce the chances of infection to a degree (e.g. an infected person wearing a mask while in proximity to others indoors MAY reduce the chances of infecting others somewhat), but mask wearing being effective enough to make it a nationwide mandate, I'm not convinced on that one.  Sledgehammer to crack a nut IMO.  The trouble is, having a largely situational mask wearing mandate would likely lead to those who should be wearing them not bothering, hence IMO 95% of the people are made to suffer with wearing them when it's only perhaps necessary for 5% in specific situations.

For anyone interested the article from which the quote from above was taken is here:

https://unherd.com/2022/02/were-masks-a-waste-of-time/

Hey, I suggest you just do what you want, as you want to question everything about mask wearing.

I mean, do you wear a car seat belt, the law says you must, but the odds of you having a crash that the belt would save your life is rather slim, to me same with the masks, but, someone's life has probably been saved by us all participating, same as seat belts..

[paulikens]

we aren't encouraged to.  we got to. we have no choice.    why are they so obsessed with masks here? control i suppose. the thais have been brainwashed into wearing them all the time.  i can't believe anyone in their right mind can believe they do anything.  only the brainwashed can think they actually do something.   the doctors who say they do help stop the spread of covid are the ones who have a vested interest to keep mask wearing going as long as possible.   

[jacko45k]

22 hours ago, clokwise said:

I've been moaning about this for a long time. Every other country in the world (except Afghanistan) has figured out how to do TV production without on-air wearing masks, so surely Thailand can do it. Unless, perhaps, there are secret orders/agreements to keep the masks on - to ensure the public remain fearful and compliant.

 

Yes, mask use on Thai TV does seem a bit random, but don't fret over it. 

[PETERTHEEATER]

22 hours ago, SooKee said:

The wearing of masks my TV presenters and news readers is beyond bizarre!  Gotta keep up the population conditioning.  Amazing Thailand - Hub of Mask Wearing ????

Worse are those masks with a transparent panel in the mouth area designed to make the wearer look stupid. And the latest TV fad of showoff women wearing a ludicrous one-piece mounded acrylic faceplate open to atmosphere. Beats the welders masks I suppose....????