Top Thai virologist says 2023 is game over for COVID-19

[daveAustin]

Sensationalist title. It will never be game over for covid 19. 

[Willy Wombat]

One year behind the civilised world 

[bbbbooboo]

  On 2/20/2023 at 1:28 PM, Eleftheros said:

Better late than never,  I suppose.

 

Most people with an ounce more sense than a billiard ball knew those things already 3 years ago, if they knew anything about history and had any common sense.

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Hmmmm….. common sense….remember TIT?

[Thalueng]

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:46 PM, edwardandtubs said:

Spreading fear is a great way of maintaining political control so keeping everyone masked up and full of anxiety is great for Prayuth and Anutin.

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For some people it seems to always come down to this, no matter what anyone says. Fairly narrow view of the world or the people in it.

[Derek B]

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:42 PM, jaywalker2 said:

So does this mean the Thais will finally be told to stop masking because they're obviously not going to stop until someone tells them to.

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Hang on a moment..................................Thais are not known for doing what they are told. 

[ikke1959]

Game over for Covid 19 in Thailand, but wear masks, to prevent get infected....by tourists or foreigners....and for the sake of the mask producing industry...

[Credo]

  On 2/20/2023 at 8:32 PM, edwardandtubs said:

That argument might have sounded very clever in the middle of 2021 but most countries of the world have now ditched masking. All you're doing now is revealing yourself to be someone who slavishly follows authoritarian clowns like Prayuth.

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Most countries have loosened restrictions on masking for good reasons.  It was never meant to control anything other than a virus.  Three things have resulted in removing mask mandates, the first was the widespread use and availability of vaccinations that greatly mitigated the worst effects of the disease and greatly lowered the probability of overwhelming the health care system.   The 2nd was that it was quickly becoming endemic.  Even Dr. Fauci said something to the effect that eventually nearly everyone will catch it.  Finally, it has mutated to the extent that it is more contagious but less deadly.   

 

I don't slavishly follow anyone.  I do listen to the advice and directives of scientists who are knowledgeable in infectious disease.  

 

[Ralf001]

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:42 PM, jaywalker2 said:

So does this mean the Thais will finally be told to stop masking because they're obviously not going to stop until someone tells them to.

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Most Thai's I know (Friends and work colleagues) still wear masks.

They dont give a sheet about covid though, they still wear masks because of the air pollution..... much like they did pre-covid on high pollution days.

[edwardandtubs]

  On 2/20/2023 at 11:07 PM, Credo said:

Most countries have loosened restrictions on masking for good reasons.  It was never meant to control anything other than a virus.  Three things have resulted in removing mask mandates, the first was the widespread use and availability of vaccinations that greatly mitigated the worst effects of the disease and greatly lowered the probability of overwhelming the health care system.   The 2nd was that it was quickly becoming endemic.  Even Dr. Fauci said something to the effect that eventually nearly everyone will catch it.  Finally, it has mutated to the extent that it is more contagious but less deadly.   

 

I don't slavishly follow anyone.  I do listen to the advice and directives of scientists who are knowledgeable in infectious disease.  

 

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You're contradicting yourself. The three reasons you mention apply just as much to Thailand as anywhere yet you ignore them and choose to follow the incoherent ramblings of the Prayuth government instead.

[zzaa09]

  On 2/20/2023 at 10:37 PM, Thalueng said:

For some people it seems to always come down to this, no matter what anyone says. Fairly narrow view of the world or the people in it.

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Not some.

Most.

[Red Phoenix]

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:33 PM, edwardandtubs said:

To be fair, he seems to be talking more sense now. In a previous statement he said masks were a personal choice. In this statement, he made one very interesting comment: "If we could turn back time, we should make use of the body of knowledge as our guide in coping with the pandemic, instead of submitting to pressure from social media." This seems to be an admission that he and other people who influence Thai public opinion and policy have been reacting to mass hysteria rather that providing leadership, and that this needs to change.

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That 'body of knowledge' which he just seems to have discovered, was always there but deliberately ignored and even censored.

This clown has been wrong from the very start on everything, and now that the larger public is slowly discovering how they have been conned, he is backtracking.

[IAMHERE]

Well darn then, seems all the money is now on 'Enhancement of Function'.  All Aboard.  Gazillions' to the scientist that can enhance that virus to affect only Tiawanese.

[hotchilli]

  On 2/20/2023 at 12:47 PM, snoop1130 said:

This year is “game over” for COVID-19, as the World Health Organisation is expected to stop counting global daily infections, because reports of infections by every country submitted to the organisation are lower than actual figures and the disease will become seasonal, according to Dr. Yong Poovorawan, head of the Centre of Excellence of Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University

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Has he come up with a vaccine yet?

[hotchilli]

  On 2/20/2023 at 1:18 PM, BangkokReady said:

Even if the virus completely disappears, are those Thais who seem convinced that all foreigners have covid ever going to be able to change this view?

 

I feel like the damage is irreversible, at least in the short-term.

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I stopped worrying what Thais think about me a very long time ago.

[SuperSilverHaze]

  On 2/20/2023 at 1:18 PM, BangkokReady said:

Even if the virus completely disappears, are those Thais who seem convinced that all foreigners have covid ever going to be able to change this view?

 

I feel like the damage is irreversible, at least in the short-term.

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The mask thing is ridiculous. I don't think they'll ever take them off especially on transit.

 

I second the fear factor. I see it, feel it around me.

 

Some still double masked. Two layers doing nothing except impeding breathing and probably promoting sickness as everyone touches, reuses their masks.

 

Funny, throughout all this was the real shocker that foreigners believe (still) masks offer protection

[Robbkk]

  On 2/20/2023 at 12:47 PM, snoop1130 said:

The mortality rate, which used to be 3-5%, has now reduced to 0.1%, similar to that of influenza.

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The virus is the same. But all the vulnerable people are already dead. Great job doctor. Now maybe you can admit that if nothing had been done the result would be the same.

[zzaa09]

  On 2/21/2023 at 12:03 AM, hotchilli said:

Has he come up with a vaccine yet?

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As there hasn't been a real one developed and distributed anywhere yet. 

[hotchilli]

  On 2/21/2023 at 12:21 AM, zzaa09 said:

As there hasn't been a real one developed and distributed anywhere yet. 

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Went very quiet at Siam Bioscience.

[jaywalker2]

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:46 PM, ozimoron said:

Idle speculation? Maybe a tinge of gratuitous Thai bashing?

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Or maybe the truth? I go to the park every day. People would wear masks even when jogging until the government came out and said they were no longer necessary outdoors.  Then they suddenly disappeared except for the diehards.

[KhunLA]

  On 2/20/2023 at 10:22 PM, daveAustin said:

Sensationalist title. It will never be game over for covid 19. 

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Not as long as there's something to sell, it will remain in the news.

[jaywalker2]

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:50 PM, ozimoron said:

Please explain the mechanism by which government recommendations to wear masks enables political control. I've been at a loss to understand this conspiracy theory and nobody seems wiling to explain it. Will you? My understanding is that recommendations to wear masks saves lives, simple as that. You know, Occam's razor. The same recommendations have been made by every nation on the planet, yet it seems to have not resulted in political control.

 

 

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The political control aspect comes in on the basis of asking (or mandating) that people do things because they're told rather than on the basis of any kind of evidence. Most of the mask studies show that masks do little good (See the latest Cochrane Review). Nevertheless, organizations like the CDC continue to insist on them -- even for 2 year olds!

[PeeJayEm]

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:42 PM, jaywalker2 said:

 

So does this mean the Thais will finally be told to stop masking because they're obviously not going to stop until someone tells them to.

 

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In Bangkok, at least, the MP 2.5 is often good enough reason to keep wearing a mask.

[Ralf001]

  On 2/21/2023 at 12:06 AM, SuperSilverHaze said:

Funny, throughout all this was the real shocker that foreigners believe (still) masks offer protection

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For medical reasons I wear a mask outdoors............... pretty funny aye.

 

[jaywalker2]

  On 2/21/2023 at 12:38 AM, PeeJayEm said:

In Bangkok, at least, the MP 2.5 is often good enough reason to keep wearing a mask.

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That might be true but it's a different issue.

[Bangkok Barry]

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:36 PM, ozimoron said:

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:34 PM, In the jungle said:

Edit: Thailand's self proclaimed top virologist.

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If not him, who is?

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A top anything is not necessarily at the same level as a top anything elsewhere. It's all relative. I think we all know the level of Thai qualifications.

[PeeJayEm]

  On 2/21/2023 at 12:31 AM, jaywalker2 said:

The political control aspect comes in on the basis of asking (or mandating) that people do things because they're told rather than on the basis of any kind of evidence. Most of the mask studies show that masks do little good (See the latest Cochrane Review). Nevertheless, organizations like the CDC continue to insist on them -- even for 2 year olds!

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The latest Cochrane review mainly concludes that the data quality of studies is so poor that no conclusion reliably can be reached - particularly in relation to impact for infants and older / vulnerable people.

So common sense is the best approach and for me than means wearing a 95 quality mask in tightly crowded / low ventilation settings (and aside from covid, when the MP 2.5 is high in the city)

 

[AustinRacing]

If you wonder how thai high education system is based on plagiarism,  this leading educator is a good demonstration. They have little pride in themselves and no issues with using other peoples work and passing it on as theirs. 

[Blumpie]

COVID?  That disease that turned into a cough?

[Tom H]

Mr Yong, my copy and paste doctor since 2020, I will miss him.

[Umlungu]

  On 2/20/2023 at 2:02 PM, Taboo2 said:

This dude is a joke.  He should  give his degree back and get a job at Big C.  He has been wrong with all his predictions and still advocates using masks!

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He'd be a shoe-in at Big C with that 1960s ice street ice cream vendor's overall.....