Northerners come out to vote despite bad pollution

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Northerners come out to vote despite bad pollution

 

 

Voters in many areas of the North braved the worsening air pollution and came out to cast their votes. 

Many people showed up at their polling stations in Chiang Mai and Lamphun provinces wearing face masks to protect themselves from fine dust in their air. 

 

Provinces in the North have seen a sharp increase in fine particulate matter, PM2.5, blamed mostly on widespread burning of fields ahead of the next farming season.

 

Voters sporting face masks were asked to remove them temporarily to identify themselves at their polling station. 

Lamphun Governor Attasit Samphanrat, who was seen wearing a face mask, advised voters – especially those with health problems – to protect themselves from the pollution. 

 

He also called on eligible voters to turn out in great numbers to help retain Lamphun’s record of having the highest voter turnout in the country. In July 2011, Thailand’s last general election, Lamphun boasted a voter turnout of 88.6 per cent.

 

In Chiang Mai, people of all ages, including those suffering from illnesses, wore protective masks and came out to vote.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30366422

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-24

[Thailand]

Any bets who will be the next pm and what he/she will do about the appalling air condition in Chiang Mai province.

[Samuel Smith]

36 minutes ago, Thailand said:

Any bets who will be the next pm and what he/she will do about the appalling air condition in Chiang Mai province.

Doesn't matter who's in charge.  Nothing will be done about the burning.

[Dellboy218]

But are those masks shown the very same that has been pointed out as useless against Pm2. 5?

[Sir Dude]

32 minutes ago, Dellboy218 said:

But are those masks shown the very same that has been pointed out as useless against Pm2. 5?

Yeah, they are pointless against this type of pollution. Surgical masks like shown in the picture are essentially to stop the wearer from infecting anyone else...like a surgeon infecting a patient whose wound he is operating on. However, let's not let reality get in the way of looking dramatic in public.

[cmsally]

Even on the local news people were commenting that although voter turnout was high, many of them were not wearing masks. Apparently the Tesabahn gave out masks yesterday and guess what they were the useless surgical type!

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy and got a dozen N95 masks and distributed them around the neighbourhood, to the people wearing the useless kind or none at all. Many of the older people simply don't realise how dangerous it is and how they should be protecting themselves.

[cardinalblue]

This is a great example of how poorly a government dept/official has done or not done in the education and training of the public on what is the minimum effective respiratory protection against the known air contaminant at hand.....

 

the majority of Thais meaning over 90% have no clue what is proper respiratory protection....

 

i dont blame them at all b/c they just are following the stupid is what stupid does mantra....

 

if the government can’t handle a fairly simple task of getting the correct PPE,  does anyone really think it can come up with a master plan on how to eliminate burning short and long term? I don’t...

 

it is comforting in reading at least some other posters have a basic understanding that any mask does not equate to effective protection and in this case, a N-95 is the only NIOSH approved respirator at a minimum for the air contaminant at hand...