Top Thai virologist says if you’re healthy “you can ditch the face mask”

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, Thai Visa Member 999999 said:

9 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Only ever wore mask at 7-11 & Makro, when you couldn't get in without one.

 

Mask ... IMHO ... are totally useless at stopping a virus, in most situations.  

How could that be? N95s are perfectly able to filter viral particles. 
 

What is your expertise, if you have one, that might be relevant? 

They don’t quite filter the individual ‘virus particles’....  they filter the aerosol and water-vapour which can carry a virus. 

 

As you indicate - N95 masks are clearly better, but when worn for any length of time incredibly uncomfortable. 

On the other hand, standard surgical masks are pretty ineffective at protecting the wearer, but serve as a ‘community measure’ protecting a lot of others from your own expelled aerosol when talking, coughing etc if in the event you are carrying something. 

 

IMO - the social norm should be.... if you have a cold wear a mask when out and about, but that relies on people being considerate of others. 

 

 

 

 

 

[BangkokReady]

5 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Because where they carry out their duty is probably the most hazardous place that one can be in, other than possibly a war zone.

 

Please don't try and convince me that a hospital is a pathogen free environment.

Also, surgeons are breathing over their patient's open body.  It's more about protecting the patient from any possible contamination, no matter how miniscule.  Open wounds are incredibly vulnerable.

[Mark Nothing]

The debates between doctors in the 1930's when the theory of virology was discovered and thrust into light was entertaining. 

 

One side was dumbstruck at the preposterous theory of an invisible organism being contagious that could not be replicated by experiment.  The other had product to sell and needed a flamboyant sales gimmick to push on the hypochondriacs.

 

This virologist needs immediate remedial training, first and foremost in ethics, to correct the glaring deficincies if he really wants to safeguard the health and vitality of citizens.  I wholesale reject everything from him.

[spidermike007]

This is an extraordinary thing. To hear a Thai in a position of influence say something like this is a giant step forward for society. This utter obsession with masks is quite something to witness. I am in the US now. No masking in the airport or on a flight from NY. I have not worn a mask in a month. So delightful. So human. So safe. Covid is endemic now. Let's get on with life. 

[TooMuchTime]

Took this advice when they first started talking about how putting a cloth piece over your mouth stops transmission.

 

Was always the only person on BTS/MRT not wearing a mask.  No one confronted me about it and if they did, I would just look at them briefly then carry on.

[spidermike007]

9 hours ago, Willy Wombat said:

12 months after most of the world dropped them, but good to hear anyway.

 

Up here in Issan ( Chaiyaphum area) nearly everybody is still wearing one. Even little kiddies.

Guys on tractors in the middle

of fields masked. Old women walking on the side of road alone masked.

 

Lucky for the wife and I no one has said a word to us about not being masked. Not Makro, 7-11, nowhere. Just the SCB bank asked which made me chuckle as half the staff had them used as chin guards.

 

Off to Bangkok in a couple of days and it will be interesting if things have changed since we landed on Boxing Day from Oz. Didn’t wear a mask at Suvarnabhumi or on the flight to KK.

 

Mask enthusiasts .  This is not a flex or boasting about non masking. Just our experience.

The wearing of masks in an outdoor area that is not crowded is all about the utter refusal to embrace science and logic, and the obsession with fear and panic. 

[peter zwart]

Wow, someone is finally waking up
 

[Venom]

I think the masks are here to stay regardless. If fact they are even still making selfies with them on. ????

[hotchilli]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

A prominent Thai virologist says healthy people no longer need to wear face masks, according to a Nation Thailand report. Dr Yong Poovorawan says high levels of immunity to Covid-19, built up over the past 3 years of infection and vaccination, mean healthy people can ditch the face masks.

The expert resurfaces...

[jacko45k]

13 hours ago, BritManToo said:

We must have been lucky and caught the non-dangerous Chinese COVID.

God knows the harm we would have suffered if we had caught the dangerous farang COVID.

Well of course the earlier strains (Alpha and Delta) were more serious and pathological, but even now in these days of omicron dominance, it seems to affect people differently... Mostly mild, especially in those fully vaccinated... but now and again I hear cases that sound quite bad.... getting older, something like that is not to be risked or thought of as trivial. 

Edited January 13, 2023 by jacko45k

[kwilco]

18 hours ago, PCUSHING said:

Thai's are the greatest hypochondriacs in the world.

From their mask wearing on motorbikes, mask wearing in restaurants and the real danger of catching respiratory diseases when it rains, the list is endless.

To be fair to Indian visitors, they don't give a flying <deleted>. Sneezing and coughing without a face diaper in sight.

Go get double vaxxed plus your booster and get on with your life.

With Covid, the purpose of a face mask is to protect OTHERS from any infected droplets you may release.

It has been known from the start that is all masks do.

To filter the air you breathe, you need a much more sophisticated mask.

So basically if you don't have covid you can't spread it......nothing new there.

However if you have Covid and maybe don't know it then you can spread it is aerosol droplets in your breathe - so that's how a mask helps.

 

Vaccination helps to reduce infection but may not eliminate it.

Wearing a mask also stops you passing on other diseases in your breath - e.g colds and flu.

Against breathing in particles that can enter your lungs, they are for the most part useless.

Edited January 13, 2023 by kwilco

[BKKBike09]

15 hours ago, BritScot said:

21 hours ago, BKKBike09 said:

So ... if you've had Covid or some vax shots, you're now immune. But still need to wear a face mask indoors.

 

Keep up the good work Doc ...

NO! You have never been immune after the jags and you still pass it on if you have had the jag or top up jags! This was made public last year 10th October, 2022;   "Janine Small, president of international markets at Pfizer told the EU Parliament that Pfizer had never carried out any transmission tests after vaccine (the phrase "The Speed Of Science" was born) and turns out they never did which just goes to show never listen to politicians or media because that is where the narrative was pushed.  One just has to look at how many times Biden has had covid. My wife has had all the vax going before she had to stop working due to health (can't say what caused her health  deterioration) got covid after vax 4 and even though her symptoms were that of a cold I obviously got it after 2 vax (about 12 month prior) and my symptoms lasted minutes. Both my children had no symptoms and never vaxed.  

Edited 15 hours ago by BritScot

Yeah - I know. I was being sarcastic.

 

I find it interesting that China has been aggressively masking for ages and yet look how Covid is now spreading there. I'm sure masks do a reasonable job of reducing risk of infection when used properly, but as soon as they're not (ie same mask worn all day, on off on off on off), or not worn at all when around other people (ie eating), all bets are off. If you're not going to wear one constantly, and avoid being near anyone not wearing one whenever you are not wearing one, frankly what's the point when Omicron is so obviously a) very very easy to catch and b) not at all serious for the vast majority of people.

[Lucky Bones]

10 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

The wearing of masks in an outdoor area that is not crowded is all about the utter refusal to embrace science and logic, and the obsession with fear and panic. 

I  can understand the guy on the tractor and his co-workers being masked up.

They have been wearing masks of some type for decades to protect from chemies and ingesting bugs etc.

Otherwise, yes. Fear, obsession and timidity to be the first in a group to ditch the muzzles will live in Thailand for many a year.????????

[lujanit]

22 hours ago, webfact said:

Dr Yong Poovorawan

This media whore cannot stay out of the media.

[vinci]

question for the anti masker, why does it bother you that people wearing mask? is there a reason why it bother you so much, I'm just curious to the logic of it.

[Moonlover]

37 minutes ago, lujanit said:

23 hours ago, webfact said:

Dr Yong Poovorawan

 

37 minutes ago, lujanit said:

This media whore cannot stay out of the media.

At least he has something sensible to say, which is more than can be said for most people on this forum.

[connda]

So Yong now says we can ditch the virtue signaling sign of social compliance.  Well, until the next scheduled "pandemic."

[connda]

42 minutes ago, vinci said:

question for the anti masker, why does it bother you that people wearing mask? is there a reason why it bother you so much, I'm just curious to the logic of it.

Because wearing a mask (especially a cloth mask) to keep out a virus that is 0.125 microns in size is akin to surrounding your house with a chain-link fence to keep out mosquitos.

Now personally I think people with symptomatic upper respiratory infections should wear masks to contain the snottering fluid particles from frequent coughing and sneezing, i.e., to protect others. Contain it at its source.

To give another analogy, if Bangkok strictly applied laws to restrict the emissions from hydrocarbon burning vehicle - and I mean STRICT - then the population wouldn't have to wear N95+ masks to protect themselves from the annual onslaught of PM2.5 particles when inversion layers trap emissions in the atmosphere over the city.  Again - contain it at it's source.  Filter at the source, the same for masks.

As far as people "wanting" to wear masks?  That's up to each individual.  In the last 15 years here I've seen people wearing masks for whatever reason they have.  When the PM2.5 gets really bad up here in the North, like 350+, I'll even don my 3M P-100 when outside.  However, my problem is when a government orders you to wear a mask.  That's the classical liberal in me that detests totalitarian-like diktat on entire populations regardless of the reason. However, some people prefer to be ruled.

There the 'logic.'

[Emdog]

23 hours ago, PCUSHING said:

To be fair to Indian visitors, they don't give a flying <deleted>. Sneezing and coughing without a face diaper in sight.

Huh. The ones I see who don't give a damn about others regarding sneezes and coughs are typically white European types

[connda]

1 hour ago, vinci said:

question for the anti masker

By the way, the term "anti-masker" is a pejorative that is meant to demean and discredit another persons views and opinions right out of the gate, and immediately set a confrontational tone. 

A less confrontation question would have been, "A question for those who don't believe that masks are effective", or "A question for those who choose not to wear masks." 

If you want to wear a mask - up to you. 

[MrMo]

Define Healthy please.

[Burma Bill]

Here we go again, after 3 years, another load of claptrat about facemasks. When not mandatory, those of you who want to wear a mask - your choice! Those that do not (like myself) - our choice! Just get on with life and enjoy yourself (like I do in now predominantly "maskless" Cambodia).

[Red Phoenix]

On 1/13/2023 at 11:21 AM, Moonlover said:

Thanks Dr. Yong. It's high time someone spoke up with a bit of common sense on this issue.

When you look at the messages of dr Yongele over the last 2-3 years, 'common sense' is the last thing I would credit him for...

[Red Phoenix]

23 minutes ago, connda said:

By the way, the term "anti-masker" is a pejorative that is meant to demean and discredit another persons views and opinions right out of the gate, and immediately set a confrontational tone. 

A less confrontation question would have been, "A question for those who don't believe that masks are effective", or "A question for those who choose not to wear masks." 

If you want to wear a mask - up to you. 

... and if you want ME to wear mask - up yours.

[Red Phoenix]

On 1/13/2023 at 11:50 AM, proton said:

Top virologist who is just an MD and professor of paediatrics at Chula, I will not be taking anything he says too seriously.

Dr Yongele advocated at the start of the roll-out of the jabs, to innoculate Thai children 3 months and older. I will never forgive him for that!  

[Bkk Brian]

Just now, Red Phoenix said:

Dr Yongele advocated at the start of the roll-out of the jabs, to innoculate Thai children 3 months and older. I will never forgive him for that!  

Can you provide a link to that claim?

[transam]

18 hours ago, Lucky Bones said:

While I haven't undertaken a house to house doorknock lately, people seem to die with or without masks and with or without C-19.

I doubt if there is accurate data on the masks anywhere.

So, no, I can not substantiate....only my opinion on a forum.

Very subjective stuff.????????

Of course, anyone can die from C19 being vaxed and or wearing a mask.

The thing is, if you are a C19 carrier, you reduce the risk of passing it on to a vulnerable person if wearing a mask, if you get vaxed you reduce the risk of you dying from C19 as your body can e prepared for it..

 

It's all quite simple stuff really, but ya know, many don't wear car seat belts, because an accident will never happen to them........

[Lucky Bones]

5 minutes ago, transam said:

Of course, anyone can die from C19 being vaxed and or wearing a mask.

The thing is, if you are a C19 carrier, you reduce the risk of passing it on to a vulnerable person if wearing a mask, if you get vaxed you reduce the risk of you dying from C19 as your body can e prepared for it..

 

It's all quite simple stuff really, but ya know, many don't wear car seat belts, because an accident will never happen to them........

Yes, accidents and winning the lottery.

Always a possibility but I don't plan my day around either of them happening.????????

[Red Phoenix]

27 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Can you provide a link to that claim?

Yes and I will post it I can if I find the ThaiVisa article again where Yong(ele) advocated jabbing ALL Thai children 3 months and older. 

[Bkk Brian]

20 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

Yes and I will post it I can if I find the ThaiVisa article again where Yong(ele) advocated jabbing ALL Thai children 3 months and older. 

If it was in a Thai visa article then that would have come from a media source. So either of those will do: Your claim being:

 

53 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

Dr Yongele advocated at the start of the roll-out of the jabs, to innoculate Thai children 3 months and older. I will never forgive him for that!  

I suspect you'll not be back because I've found nothing to substantiate that claim anywhere online.