Why are some people so upset that people who work with the public wear masks?  They probably want to avoid catching a nasty bug from someone.  How many of them have sick leave and can afford to miss work?

8 minutes ago, TedG said:

Why are some people so upset that people who work with the public wear masks?  They probably want to avoid catching a nasty bug from someone.  How many of them have sick leave and can afford to miss work?

And as another member so excellently put it "Masks are cringeworthy. It basically says "I am opting out of normal society because I am a very precious flower and more valuable than you filthy germ carrying parasites" - bunch of wet wipes in this country

This whole 11-page rant is based upon a lie.

Quote

How on earth are people STILL wearing masks everywhere? And I mean everywhere. Out in the open sun, alone on motorbikes, in empty corridors, walking on the beach – you name it. The most illogical, pointless situations imaginable… yet the masks are still glued on like some national uniform.

A few people are wearing masks,for various reasons, known only to themselves, but those of us who live here (either in Bangkok or the provinces) know that the OP is absolute nonsense.  

1 minute ago, chickenslegs said:

This whole 11-page rant is based upon a lie.

A few people are wearing masks,for various reasons, known only to themselves, but those of us who live here (either in Bangkok or the provinces) know that the OP is absolute nonsense.  

They are everywhere - you might find some tourist heavy areas where numbers are low, but there will always at least 1 moron stinking out the atmosphere with their muzzle 

This should be the anthem for the covid pussies who forever want to live like some disobedient mut - eyes without a face, they've got no human grace 
 

 

1 hour ago, PerfidiousAlbion said:

They are everywhere - you might find some tourist heavy areas where numbers are low, but there will always at least 1 moron stinking out the atmosphere with their muzzle 

You were supposedly here for a two week visit?

How long left?

4 minutes ago, PerfidiousAlbion said:

A little less than it takes for a decrepit old sexpat like you to walk up the stairs - I could leave tomorrow and not come back for ten years and all the thick and cowardly Thais will be still be muzzling up like the weak ass slaves they are 

You have issues. Many issues. Anger issues, daddy issues, rejection issues, insecurity, possible bigotry or racism issues - the hatred has to come from somewhere, and it's not from an insignificant number of people courteously wearing masks that's for sure. 

I would say I hope you get the help you need, but I don't. I hope you just go back to your own country, stew in your hate, and continue to live a miserable life - you deserve it. 

When's your flight? Maybe we can all come to the airport and wave you off - fully masked up of course. 

2 hours ago, PerfidiousAlbion said:

They are everywhere - you might find some tourist heavy areas where numbers are low, but there will always at least 1 moron stinking out the atmosphere with their muzzle 

How does wearing a mask stink out the atmosphere?

What are you views on vaccinations?

53 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

You have issues. Many issues. Anger issues, daddy issues, rejection issues, insecurity, possible bigotry or racism issues - the hatred has to come from somewhere, and it's not from an insignificant number of people courteously wearing masks that's for sure. 

I would say I hope you get the help you need, but I don't. I hope you just go back to your own country, stew in your hate, and continue to live a miserable life - you deserve it. 

When's your flight? Maybe we can all come to the airport and wave you off - fully masked up of course. 

I can go wherever I want, freedom to work remotely and earn, unlike you who will probably stay in BKK for the rest of his life surrounded by cowards in face masks 

50 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

How does wearing a mask stink out the atmosphere?

What are you views on vaccinations?

No issues with vaccinations, I took them because I just wanted the ordeal to be over, although I think history already does not look kindly on how we treated those who justifiably had concerns about the rapid development of them. And the fact I need to explain why being surrounded by face masks is not a pleasant atmosphere just shows that sexpats are as brainwashed and stupid as the local dum dums. Masks are for the mentally ill and cowards - perfect tools to control for the despots who run tinpot dictatorships like Thailand 

2 minutes ago, PerfidiousAlbion said:

And the truly hateful ones are the masked tossers who scoled anyone who didn't inject themselves or participate in their deranged obsession with muzzles - those who continue to wear muzzles are complicit in the unnecessary perpetuation of a symbolism that reminds everyone around them of the unfathomably moronic medical tyranny we were all subjected to.

Wow, you have it bad. Seek help.

2 minutes ago, PerfidiousAlbion said:

You're incapable of engaging your brain critically so just resort to some woeful attempt at armchair psychology - you are brainwashed like many locals pal

I am not your pal. I doubt you have any.

Why are you posting at 2am in Thailand whilst on holiday?

7 minutes ago, PerfidiousAlbion said:

So do you - I just give it back. If you think being surrounded by covid obsessed freaks in muzzles as we approach 2026 all while the ROW moved on ages ago is indicative of a psychologically healthy society then that tells me everything I need to know about your intellect and general standards in life.

You know nothing, particularly about standards or intellect. Just regurgitating your anti social nonsense.

You are bored and the only perceived human interaction you have is on here.

Sad really.

3 hours ago, PerfidiousAlbion said:

This should be the anthem for the covid pussies 

 

heres an anthem for most of the tone deaf sheet you post

 

 

15 minutes ago, PerfidiousAlbion said:

Why can't you get laid in any country other than Thailand? 

Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages · 
perfidious

adjective literary
deceitful and untrustworthy.

 

Pretty well sums you up.

Multiple troll posts and replies removed.

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On 11/17/2025 at 2:13 AM, emptypockets said:

I am not your pal. I doubt you have any.

Why are you posting at 2am in Thailand whilst on holiday?

Scunthorpe....😉

I have a feeling he has left the building......

Posts breaking forum rules removed.

 

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On 11/6/2025 at 8:41 PM, chickenslegs said:

This is puzzling.

School run this morning, Sattahip, not a single parent or child wearing a mask. Shopping in Big C this evening, not a single customer or member of staff wearing a mask as far as I could see.

Out last evening, Bang Saray restaurant and bars - no masks there.

I was in Jomtien Immigration last week, maybe one or two staff with masks, perhaps they had colds and didn't want to spread their germs.

I rarely see anyone masked up these days.

I strongly doubt that...there are people wearing masks everywhere in Thailand, including in every school, nationwide. Look a bit harder. Just because the people you spent 3 seconds seeing in front of you aren't, doesn't mean no one is. Most have stopped wearing masks, sure, but a certain percentage continues to don masks, which varies depending on whether there's pollution or a new Covid scare going on (there's a new one happening right now called "Cicada" and by no coincidence, mask wearing is slightly up compared to a few days ago).

For sure there would have been some staff and shoppers wearing masks at your local Big C. At EVERY SINGLE Big C or Lotus or other supermarket I've been going to in Thailand since the end of Covid, there have been people wearing masks. Doesn't matter if it's in greater Bangkok, Chachoengsao, somewhere in Isarn (Buri Ram, Ubon, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani etc.) or Chiang Mai, Lampang, Phitsanulok or Mae Sot...many staff and some customers, particularly the elderly, young women and gay men, as well as quite a few children, wear masks. Sometimes, the parents don't, but their child(ren) do. Other times, it's the other way round. I very much doubt your local one is any different.

I see photos of people I know who live upcountry in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Lampang and western Thailand, as well as in Bangkok - they and their children all wear masks at times. I can't quite understand why - but their children sometimes, if not always, wear masks to school and they're definitely NOT alone. If they're not wearing them, the masks are dangling around their necks. Again, I can't explain this strange obsession, because this isn't something you see in Laos, Cambodia or Myanmar.

Thus, mask wearing is definitely NOT just a Bangkok or large cities thing, but a Thailand thing. Again, sure...fewer masks are worn in rural areas but that's because in rural areas there aren't the type of crowded indoor spaces that exist in the cities.

On 11/16/2025 at 11:06 PM, chickenslegs said:

This whole 11-page rant is based upon a lie.

A few people are wearing masks,for various reasons, known only to themselves, but those of us who live here (either in Bangkok or the provinces) know that the OP is absolute nonsense.  

No, it's not. He's mostly correct. The only thing he might have been slightly exaggerating was the perception that most Thais are still masked up in late 2025 [early 2026]. Most would mean more than 50%. In some settings, yes, I'd say whether it was back in November or now, you might see "most" Thais wear masks, such as on a particular bus or songthaew with 10 people onboard and 6 of them happened to be wearing masks, but does that give you a proper insight into the percentage of Thais who wear masks in general? No, of course not. Sample size is too small.

At hospitals, particularly in the cities, nearly ALL staff (doctors, nurses, admin, cleaning staff etc.) wear masks at all times and this is apparently due to Thai patients "expecting" them to set a good example (or so I've been told). As for Thai patients, in the cities, and among ethnic Chinese, upper middle class and upper-class Thais and especially the elderly, mask wearing at hospitals is almost universal.

Among rural folk heading to a hospital or clinic, it's probably around 50% at the moment given the mandates have been scrapped (though the occasional hospital or clinic continues to post mask notices on their entrance doors).

I'd say that if we're taking an average, consisting of people outdoors/indoors, including those riding public transit, walking through malls and offices, going to school/coming back home, factory workers, office workers, hospitality and retail workers etc. then in greater Bangkok and larger Thai cities, the % of masks being worn at the moment is roughly 15-20%. In rural areas, it's down to 5-10%. In rural areas, many locals wear masks when riding motorcycles and sometimes you might see a random shopkeeper wear one for no particular reason, particularly if it's an elderly lady. As soon as you hit a 7-11 or a government office, even in rural areas, the rate of mask wearing spikes (although again, at the moment, it's not particularly high). However, I have seen Thai colleagues post photos of meetings and workshops in rural areas and because lots of people gather, suddenly, a large percentage of the farmers would wear masks while watching my Thai colleagues deliver their speeches.

In May 2025, during the most recent Covid "scare" before now, at least 1 in 3 Thais at the Land Transport Department in Chatuchak were wearing masks. At malls at the time, in downtown areas, it was lower because many of the customers are foreigners...but go to Bang Na or some outlying area like Bang Khae or Minburi and it was again, around 1 in 3 or approaching 40% at the time. Now it's down to half of that and that's where it's staying, unless people start to get scared of the "Cicada" variant again.

I have noticed slightly more mask wearing in recent days, ever since "Cicada" hit the news about 2 or 3 days ago, but it's too early to tell whether Thais will panic and mask up more again, as they did 2 or even 1 year ago, in response to similar news.

On 11/6/2025 at 8:43 PM, PerfidiousAlbion said:

That's good to hear. Maybe it's just a Bangkok thing then - as that is where I am. 

It's not. Yes, more people wear masks in greater Bangkok and other large cities compared to the countryside, but that's to be expected in the sense that you have a much larger sample size. Lots of people everywhere, easier to spot people wearing masks and of course, you'll find a lot of people put them on in settings like public transportation, hospitals (most Thais will wear a mask to a hospital in most parts of the country), malls, schools, offices etc.

Even rural folk who don't wear masks much when they're in their village, will often put one on to ride the bus to Bangkok or another city, or to visit a doctor in the city or sometimes even when they go to a mall in the city with their relatives or something. Somehow, despite being rural, they will adapt to the "city environment" in this respect. I've seen this countless times post Covid and my wife's relatives, who have never lived in Bangkok and haven't been to Bangkok in many years (not since long before Covid) wear masks a lot, even today.

On 11/6/2025 at 9:37 PM, DonniePeverley said:

 

 

Not everyone inside those malls are going to be Thais. Many will be tourists - especially Koreans and Japanese. 

 

Only in tourist areas. In outlying suburbs of Bangkok, nearly all customers will be Thai. At Fashion Island, 97% of customers are Thai, not Japanese or Koreans. They can be found in Sukhumvit like all the farangs, but they won't be going to Fashion Island or Central Bang Na because they've never heard of those places unless they're expats.

Also, Thais tend to mask up MORE than other Asians. Surveys have put them at the very top in the world for mask wearing, beating even the Japanese (before Covid, the Japanese were clearly at the top).

When Japanese come to Thailand, they tend to ditch the masks, while having lots of Thais around them still wearing them. My Thai friend, who lives in Sri Ratcha, an area with lots of Japanese expats, told me that post Covid, the Japanese took off their masks relatively quickly, while the Thais did not. I visited there in mid 2024 and stayed at a Japanese hotel in town. By then, a lot of locals had already ditched the masks and the Japanese that I encountered didn't wear masks at all, but there were still staff and some guests who continued to wear masks, all of them Thai.

I STILL can't believe why some people have such a reaction to SOMEONE ELSE wearing a mask. It doesn't necesarilly mean they are a Nervous Nelly. Maybe they have an underlying condition that even catching cold from someone could make them really sick. Or maybe they just want to wear a mask to prevent the unpleasant inconvenience of getting a cold or a flu. Like someone else said, maybe if they get sick they don't get paid if they stay home from work. So it's a livelihood hedge for them.

Why does the OP or anyone else care? I usually wear a mask on a crowded BTS or MRT. Also on a crowded airplane. Coming back from up north last week on a jam-packed THAI flight a Thai man in the middle seat next to me was clearly sick - constantly hacking, coughing and taking off his own mask to drink water every five minutes. I pulled up me hoodie and tried to stare into the aisle as much as possible. Crikey, didn't we learn anything from the COVID years? Should we stop washing our hands too?

On 11/6/2025 at 11:28 PM, PerfidiousAlbion said:

I’ve just come back to Thailand for the first time in two years to see my father, and honestly, I’m in absolute disbelief. How on earth are people STILL wearing masks everywhere

Please, can the audience become educated before posting.

Higher Mortality and Severity: Early pandemic studies showed Asians had a higher risk of death compared to Whites

Whocares about the mask wearing, mind your own business 😡

On 11/6/2025 at 9:44 PM, Aforek said:

Same here, upcountry : maybe 1 % have a mask 

Absolute nonsense. It's far more than that. You have to consider the average percentage ACROSS ALL types of settings, not just people walking down the street or farmers plowing their fields. Even in the most rural and remote parts of Thailand (such as north-western Tak and Mae Hong Son provinces) you'll probably find like 5-7% of the population wearing masks...especially those on motorcycles, but go to a village where you have 7-11s or larger stores and the percentage increases. Or when these same folk board a bus somewhere, suddenly, a percentage will start putting on masks, perhaps 10-20% will.

I was in Mae Sot just over a month ago (late February). Not a tiny village of course, but not a huge place either. Hardly any of the Burmese folk coming over wear masks, but the Thais sure do. I remember seeing the school children waiting on the Songthaews wear masks...maybe 1 in 5 had a mask on and another few had one dangling on a lanyard around their necks (which counts as mask wearing to me). These were like 5- and 6-year-olds! So it's definitely not just a Bangkok, Chiang Mai or big city thing.

Going back to late 2022 for instance, when I made my first post Covid trips to neighboring countries by road, the difference between Thailand and its neighbors was stark.

Starting from the outskirts of Bangkok, where mask wearing in general was at around 60-70% (slightly lower outdoors and higher indoors), it went down to like 20% or less around Sra Kaew, Buri Ram and Surin (November 2022) but spiked to like 75% as soon as there was a school or 711 in a larger town. All the staff at such places were wearing masks. At the border (Chong Chom) half the immigration staff were masked, half weren't (similar story at Chong Sa-ngam on the way back). On the Cambodian side: ZERO masks worn by immigration or customs. In Siem Reap: 3-4% of all people were masked - supermarket workers didn't even wear a mask, except one or two in the whole city. In November 2022. Compared to up to 70-80% (or more) in downtown Bangkok and 2 in 3 in other cities similar in size to Siem Reap on the Thai side. In Phnom Penh, mask wearing was a little higher, maybe 10-15%...slightly lower than Bangkok TODAY!

December 2022 road trip to Penang and Kuala Lumpur: NO masks worn by 711 staff in Penang, but worn universally by staff at 711 in Hat Yai and all the other 711s I visited between Bangkok and the border as well as in the corridor between Krabi and Ranong on the way back. Centara Ao Nang staff: yep, masked up (except some of the F&B staff). Hotel staff in Penang and Kuala Lumpur = no masks. Shoppers at KLCC? 1 in 3 wearing masks, among staff, 30-40% mask wearing. A little lower at the mall in Penang. In Bangkok and other cities at the time = more than TWICE the rate of mask wearing.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in November 2022? Masks mostly worn by motorcycle riders. No masks on staff at most independent eateries or shops. Some masks worn by retail staff, but not universal like in Thailand at the time.

People whose lower face is ugly love masking up.

6 minutes ago, JackGats said:

People whose lower face is ugly love masking up.

Thais were wearing masks well before COVID.

17 hours ago, emptypockets said:

Thais were wearing masks well before COVID.

This old chestnut again, which simply isn't true. No, Thais were barely wearing masks before Covid, if they weren't dentists or surgeons or the occasional sick person. These days, many wear decorative lanyards attached to their masks (especially women, the elderly and children)...something that was never done before Covid.

2 hours ago, highrider said:

This old chestnut again, which simply isn't true. No, Thais were barely wearing masks before Covid, if they weren't dentists or surgeons or the occasional sick person.

If you believe that Thais do not wear masks during the SMOG season then you must never have visited Chiang Mai or the North in the last twenty years or so!