COVID makes comeback in Thailand as booster fatigue leaves door open

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

13 minutes ago, Tom H said:

https://time.com/6283257/china-xbb-covid-outbreak/

"For the second wave since April, Zhong’s modeling revealed that the XBB variant is expected to cause 40 million infections weekly by May, going up to 65 million in June. This goes against the grain of Chinese health officials’ estimate that the wave had peaked in April. In Beijing, the number of new infections recorded between May 15 and 21 grew four times in four weeks."

 

And, in one illustration of how government policies increasingly are making COVID data reporting unreliable on the undercounting side, virtually none of those Chinese COVID cases are officially being reported by China to the  World Health Organization for use in their global COVID tallies....

 

Just like Thailand last fall stopped actually publicly counting and reporting COVID infections / positive tests, and now only reports COVID hospitalizations as "cases."

 

Edited June 3, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[cmsally]

The big concern when it comes to vaccine efficacy and possible side effects (especially multiple jabs) is the increased IgG4 synthesis which suppresses natural immune responses . This would lead to a "tolerance " and therefore easier access for the virus.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37243095/

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 minutes ago, cmsally said:

The big concern when it comes to vaccine efficacy and possible side effects (especially multiple jabs) is the increased IgG4 synthesis which suppresses natural immune responses . This would lead to a "tolerance " and therefore easier access for the virus.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37243095/

Another obscure study authored, not surprisingly, by a Russian doctor from anti-vax Florida in the USA whose listed affiliation is with the school's Alzheimer's Research Institute.  Ya right.....

 

Edited June 3, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[cmsally]

6 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Another obscure study authored, not surprisingly, by a doctor from anti-vax Florida in the USA whose affiliation is with the school's Alzheimer's Research Institute.  Ya right.....

 

There are many other articles reporting on the increase of IgG4 synthesis after multiple vaccinations.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.ade2798?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D10004033062825659411129435348606531187|MCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%40AdobeOrg|TS%3D1685772772

[onthedarkside]

A post making wild unsubstantiated claims has been removed. Repeat that and expect a warning.

[spidermike007]

6 hours ago, rabang said:

I swear in the west covid is not appearing in the news almost at all anymore. Yet in the Bangkok newspaper we can not make links to at this forum there is still a section for it and at least a couple recent (from past month) articles with photos of very small schoolchildren all masked up. Go figure.

Thailand has been obsessed with covid from the beginning, and still is. It boggles the mind. Do we not have lives to live?

[anrcaccount]

44 minutes ago, rabas said:

What you call daily hospitalizations (2633) from your link are actually reported as:

 

Weekly COVID-19 cases in hospital and ICU and case notifications, Australia, 01 Jan 2022 to 30 May 2023.

 

That sound like the total number in hospital averaged over a week.

 

Thailand's numbers are 'new' hospitalizations per week 2970 and per day 494.

 

I stand corrected- it is a 7 day rolling average. My bad. 

 

So the 2633 is comparable to Thailand's numbers of 2970.

 

Regardless, the point stands, Australia  has a lot more covid hospitalisations per capita , yet no covid alarmism permeates the mainstream news and the publics behaviors,  like it continues to do in Thailand.

 

[spidermike007]

38 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

"For the second wave since April, Zhong’s modeling revealed that the XBB variant is expected to cause 40 million infections weekly by May, going up to 65 million in June. This goes against the grain of Chinese health officials’ estimate that the wave had peaked in April. In Beijing, the number of new infections recorded between May 15 and 21 grew four times in four weeks."

 

And, in one illustration of how government policies increasingly are making COVID data reporting unreliable on the undercounting side, virtually none of those Chinese COVID cases are officially being reported by China to the  World Health Organization for use in their global COVID tallies....

 

Just like Thailand last fall stopped actually publicly counting and reporting COVID infections / positive tests, and now only reports COVID hospitalizations as "cases."

 

There have been a total of just under 100 million covid cases in China, since the beginning. Yet, we are being asked to believe that 65 million cases a week is even possible there, and will happen within weeks? It boggles the mind, and defies reason. Please do not cite any mainstream media nonsense about this.

[rabas]

14 minutes ago, cmsally said:

There are many other articles reporting on the increase of IgG4 synthesis after multiple vaccinations.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.ade2798?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D10004033062825659411129435348606531187|MCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%40AdobeOrg|TS%3D1685772772

Here is an interesting summary article about IgG4 and vaccines by the rather brilliant expert William A. Haseltine.  It describes the various mechanisms by which it works.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2023/01/13/emergence-of-igg4-in-long-term-vaccines-winning-or-losing-the-race/?sh=3cf2b1cb6fd4

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

33 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

There have been a total of just under 100 million covid cases in China, since the beginning.

Chinese government official reporting about their COVID cases is just about as believable and reliable as most of your COVID posts.

 

For example, relative to your supposed 100 million cumulative COVID cases figure posted above:

Leaked notes from Chinese health officials estimate 250 million Covid-19 infections in December: reports

"Hong Kong CNN  — Almost 250 million people in China may have caught Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, according to an internal estimate from the nation’s top health officials, Bloomberg News and the Financial Times reported Friday."

 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/23/china/china-covid-infections-250-million-intl-hnk/index.html

 

Edited June 3, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[spidermike007]

7 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Chinese government official reporting about their COVID cases is just about as believable and reliable as most of your COVID posts.

 

For example, relative to your supposed 100 million cumulative COVID cases figure posted above:

Leaked notes from Chinese health officials estimate 250 million Covid-19 infections in December: reports

"Hong Kong CNN  — Almost 250 million people in China may have caught Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, according to an internal estimate from the nation’s top health officials, Bloomberg News and the Financial Times reported Friday."

 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/23/china/china-covid-infections-250-million-intl-hnk/index.html

 

Yes, one out of five, nationally. All ages and all health conditions. If that were true, and it was sustained, and 1% died, they did a great job of hiding 5-10 million deaths.

 

Very believable, only for those who are susceptible and hungry for news of the apocalyptic variety. 

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, rabas said:

Here is an interesting summary article about IgG4 and vaccines by the rather brilliant expert William A. Haseltine.  It describes the various mechanisms by which it works.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2023/01/13/emergence-of-igg4-in-long-term-vaccines-winning-or-losing-the-race/?sh=3cf2b1cb6fd4

 

 

Puts into perspective the need for updated annual boosters to be developed like what is done for the Flu and Pneumonia. Add in the fact that there are 4 distinct regions where the viruses differentiate and thus a need for different types of boosters depending upon where you are. It is no longer a one jab fits all categories due to mutations.

[ikke1959]

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

COVID vaccinations don't cause COVID.

 

Perhaps you should look at your own behaviors, as to why you supposedly kept coming down with the virus, when others such as myself didn't.

 

"MYTH: A COVID-19 vaccine can make me sick with COVID-19. FACT: Because none of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines in the United States contain the live virus that causes COVID-19, the vaccine cannot make you sick with COVID-19."

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/facts.html

 

"Myth: You can get COVID-19 from the vaccines. This is FALSE.

“There’s no live virus in the vaccines, so they can’t infect you,” says Dr. Cunningham. “Basically, the vaccines make our bodies produce one single protein from the virus—the protein that infects our cells. By making that protein, we prevent infection. You might have side effects like a headache or chills, but that’s because your body is creating an immune response, not because you have an infection.”

 

https://www.henryford.com/blog/2021/08/vaccine-myths

 

We are sure we got Covid, maybe not if we were not vaccinated, and it happened in the lockdown period, with living 2 of us in house for weeks without seeing anybody or going anywhere...  So my lifestyle had nothing to do with it or my behavior

[MurakamiX]

21 hours ago, BangkokHank said:

Are you vaccinated? If so, with which vaccine(s), and how many times?

I was vaccinated, but had my last shot a good 18 months ago at least. I can't remember which ones I had however, but I had it twice. And like I said I didn't catch covid throughout the entire pandemic. 

[MurakamiX]

19 hours ago, dinsdale said:

This is true yet vaccinated people still get ill and some die as do the unvaccinated.

The vaccine doesn't last forever, and so it would need advised to get boosters. COVID is a fairly fast mutating virus. For example, the virus that causes HIV is very fast with its mutations, hence why there isn't a vaccine against AIDS. COVID doesn't mutate as fast, but fast enough to where a vaccine will be almost useless after a multitude of months. 

There are many other variables that dictate how poorly a person will become with COVID. Things such as how much of the virus they take into their body and are exposed to, vitamin D levels, sleep, diet, genetics, age, smoker or not, liver health and so on. 

[Tom H]

3 hours ago, dinsdale said:

This is interesting. I wonder how many billions of masks are being worn and discarded in the garbage yet numbers of infections are huge.

I wonder if 1 M will die from 40 M per week up to 60 M in 2,3 months of time. 

I guess so.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Interesting study below from the U.S., in that the Thai officials have in part publicly blamed the return of Thai students to classes for the local surge in COVID cases that began in April:

 

More than 70% of US household COVID spread started with a child, study suggests

 

A study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open suggests that 70.4% of nearly 850,000 US household COVID-19 transmissions originated with a child.

...

"Once US schools reopened in fall 2020, children contributed more to inferred within-household transmission when they were in school, and less during summer and winter breaks, a pattern consistent for 2 consecutive school years."

...

The authors concluded that children had an important role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and that in-person school also resulted in substantial spread."

 

(more)

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/more-70-us-household-covid-spread-started-child-study-suggests

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, anrcaccount said:

Regardless, the point stands, Australia  has a lot more covid hospitalisations per capita , yet no covid alarmism permeates the mainstream news and the publics behaviors,  like it continues to do in Thailand.

 

Seems like there's quite a bit of news media attention being given to the  rising COVID case counts in Australia, not at all different from Thailand.... Local coverage just from today and recent days:

 

Australia records 37,448 new Covid-19 cases as winter begins

A winter warning for Covid-19 is under way across Australia as tens of thousands of people contract the virus.

 

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/australia-records-37448-new-covid19-cases-as-winter-begins/news-story/737a2b783ba14c5a7a58a323e8f4b187

 

Covid cases spike 28 per cent in a month as concerns rise about effect of a fifth wave of the virus on Australia's workforce

Experts have warned about a fifth wave of Covid across Australia, with a rise in case numbers and hospitalisations driving many Aussie workers to take sick leave.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12154213/Coronavirus-concerns-fifth-wave-Australia-28-cent-monthly-increase-case-numbers.html

 

 

‘Now’s the time’: Australians urged to get flu and COVID shots as cases rise

Australians are being urged to get their booster shots, with COVID-19 and influenza cases rising as the country heads into winter.

 

The number of notifications of laboratory-confirmed influenza has increased across Australia in the first two weeks of May, and the week to May 23 saw an average of 5884 COVID cases reported per day – part of a steady daily increase since February.

 

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/2023/05/30/covid-flu-booster-winter/

 

China, Thailand, Australia, elsewhere.... I guess COVID isn't quite as "finished" or "done" as some people here mistakenly seem to think.

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Paradise Pete]

8 hours ago, cmsally said:

It would be interesting to see a study comparing the efficacy of the Covid vaccines compared to that of various dosages of Vitamin D. Vitamin D has been found to lessen the likelihood of catching Covid as well as lessening the symptoms.

 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.836738/full

 

Why would you have to choose? I did both. If you're low on vitamin D your immune system doesn't function as well.

 

A well functioning immune system means a better outcome from the vaccine, of course.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Paradise Pete

[dinsdale]

49 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Interesting study below from the U.S., in that the Thai officials have in part publicly blamed the return of Thai students to classes for the local surge in COVID cases that began in April:

 

More than 70% of US household COVID spread started with a child, study suggests

 

A study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open suggests that 70.4% of nearly 850,000 US household COVID-19 transmissions originated with a child.

...

"Once US schools reopened in fall 2020, children contributed more to inferred within-household transmission when they were in school, and less during summer and winter breaks, a pattern consistent for 2 consecutive school years."

...

The authors concluded that children had an important role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and that in-person school also resulted in substantial spread."

 

(more)

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/more-70-us-household-covid-spread-started-child-study-suggests

 

Well I guess if it suggests this is the case that's good enough. Do you suggest school children should be vaccinated continuosly with boosters? Even then it won't stop them from contracting and spreading the virus. Should all school children wear masks for decades to come?  Will this stop transmission? Sure school children spread viruses. It's a good environment for viruses to spread. Not the only one though. Public transport, workplaces etc, etc. This is the nature of viruses. Do you think it can be stopped? Hasn't so far. There have been some vaccines that have eradicated or almost eradicated viruses. The covid vaccines, however, haven't and won't. It is an endemic virus as is the common cold and the flu. It really is time to move on from this. It's here for a long time.

Edited June 3, 2023 by dinsdale

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Reporting re the WHO's most recent global COVID report:

 

Global COVID-19 activity remains mixed

...

In the Western Pacific, Mongolia, Palau, and the Philippines reported the highest proportional rises, with cases up modestly in South Korea and Australia.

...

Chinese infectious disease experts last week said the country was experiencing another surge in cases, but there are few new details, other than that deaths were up sharply over the past 4 weeks.

...

Elsewhere in Asia, Thailand reported a steady rise in cases. The country is part of the WHO's Southeast Asia region, which saw an overall decrease over the most recent reporting period. Also, Indonesia reported a smaller rise in activity."

 

(more)

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/global-covid-19-activity-remains-mixed

 

[dinsdale]

32 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Seems like there's quite a bit of news media attention being given to the  rising COVID case counts in Australia, not at all different from Thailand.... Local coverage just from today and recent days:

 

Australia records 37,448 new Covid-19 cases as winter begins

A winter warning for Covid-19 is under way across Australia as tens of thousands of people contract the virus.

 

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/australia-records-37448-new-covid19-cases-as-winter-begins/news-story/737a2b783ba14c5a7a58a323e8f4b187

 

Covid cases spike 28 per cent in a month as concerns rise about effect of a fifth wave of the virus on Australia's workforce

Experts have warned about a fifth wave of Covid across Australia, with a rise in case numbers and hospitalisations driving many Aussie workers to take sick leave.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12154213/Coronavirus-concerns-fifth-wave-Australia-28-cent-monthly-increase-case-numbers.html

 

 

‘Now’s the time’: Australians urged to get flu and COVID shots as cases rise

Australians are being urged to get their booster shots, with COVID-19 and influenza cases rising as the country heads into winter.

 

The number of notifications of laboratory-confirmed influenza has increased across Australia in the first two weeks of May, and the week to May 23 saw an average of 5884 COVID cases reported per day – part of a steady daily increase since February.

 

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/2023/05/30/covid-flu-booster-winter/

 

China, Thailand, Australia, elsewhere.... I guess COVID isn't quite as "finished" or "done" as some people here mistakenly seem to think.

 

 

 

No one is saying it's finished. The point is the severity of Delta has finished. It's now Omicron. Can you not just accept that for the majority of countries and people it's no longer an issue other than for those who are at risk.

[anrcaccount]

11 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Reporting re the WHO's most recent global COVID report:

 

Global COVID-19 activity remains mixed

...

In the Western Pacific, Mongolia, Palau, and the Philippines reported the highest proportional rises, with cases up modestly in South Korea and Australia.

...

Chinese infectious disease experts last week said the country was experiencing another surge in cases, but there are few new details, other than that deaths were up sharply over the past 4 weeks.

...

Elsewhere in Asia, Thailand reported a steady rise in cases. The country is part of the WHO's Southeast Asia region, which saw an overall decrease over the most recent reporting period. Also, Indonesia reported a smaller rise in activity."

 

(more)

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/global-covid-19-activity-remains-mixed

 

The most important line in that WHO report you conveniently left out: 

 

"cases over the past 28 days were down 30% and deaths over the same period were down 39% "

 

 

Alarmist fearmongering is not beneficial to public health, please consider this. 

[Danderman123]

9 hours ago, cmsally said:

It would be interesting to see a study comparing the efficacy of the Covid vaccines compared to that of various dosages of Vitamin D. Vitamin D has been found to lessen the likelihood of catching Covid as well as lessening the symptoms.

 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.836738/full

Correlation does not prove causality.

[Danderman123]

33 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Well I guess if it suggests this is the case that's good enough. Do you suggest school children should be vaccinated continuosly with boosters? Even then it won't stop them from contracting and spreading the virus. Should all school children wear masks for decades to come?  Will this stop transmission? Sure school children spread viruses. It's a good environment for viruses to spread. Not the only one though. Public transport, workplaces etc, etc. This is the nature of viruses. Do you think it can be stopped? Hasn't so far. There have been some vaccines that have eradicated or almost eradicated viruses. The covid vaccines, however, haven't and won't. It is an endemic virus as is the common cold and the flu. It really is time to move on from this. It's here for a long time.

Were it not for poorly informed individuals, vaccination could eliminate the virus, as it did for Smallpox.

 

As for vaccination of schoolchildren, do you oppose Measles, Polio, etc vaccination?

Edited June 3, 2023 by Danderman123

[Danderman123]

4 hours ago, MurakamiX said:

I was vaccinated, but had my last shot a good 18 months ago at least. I can't remember which ones I had however, but I had it twice. And like I said I didn't catch covid throughout the entire pandemic. 

You are a fugitive from the law of averages.

[dinsdale]

12 minutes ago, anrcaccount said:

The most important line in that WHO report you conveniently left out: 

 

"cases over the past 28 days were down 30% and deaths over the same period were down 39% "

 

 

Alarmist fearmongering is not beneficial to public health, please consider this. 

It's seems you discovered a case of cherry picking. Well done. What makes me wonder is why? Why not the actual reality. Why push this nonsense? I truly don't understand the mindset of some people. The cances of dying from covid globally now must have so many zeros after the decimal point. Even in Thailand. 0.000000?????.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

23 minutes ago, anrcaccount said:

cases over the past 28 days were down 30% and deaths over the same period were down 39% "

When this becomes the "Global Now" forum, you might have a point.

 

But as long as it remains the "Asean Now" forum, I'm gonna continue to focus on Asia region country results inclusive of Thailand, as I did.  The rest of the article speaks for itself.

 

Pertinent takeaway is: COVID cases up in Thailand, China, South Korea, Australia, Philippines and Indonesia.

 

And for those who don't already know, this forum has a forum rule limiting the amount of article content that can be quoted in a post to more or less three sentences. So in this case, it was a matter of excerpting the most relevant details for our little corner of the world.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[dinsdale]

6 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Were it not for poorly informed individuals, vaccination could eliminate the virus, as it did for Smallpox.

 

As for vaccination of schoolchildren, do you oppose Measles, Polio, etc vaccination?

You are joking. Aren't you?

[Danderman123]

1 minute ago, dinsdale said:

You are joking. Aren't you?

No. Many anti-Vaxxers oppose vaccinations for schoolchildren.