"We won't go home, we can't afford that" - bus fares almost double because of social distancing regulations

[CLW]

The only good thing is that probably people are discouraged from inter-provincial travel.

 

On the other hand if you apply their logic, the BTS and MRT fares on Sundays or in general outside peak hours must be double because the trains are only half full. Or during public holidays the bus fare should be discounted because all tickets are sold out etc...

[KhunBENQ]

This is a fun thread.

Westerners (some from the most obese countries in the world) bickering on Thai diet

I'll tell my neighbors to get more sun when they come back from the fields and gain some pounds you skeleton. Not enough sun

Not a single Covid case in the district and not read about Covid in the province since long.

When there was one new case in the province it caused worried faces.

Telling them about US numbers does not impress them.

Edited May 26, 2020 by KhunBENQ

[from the home of CC]

46 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Nobody want´s that. This is about consistency. When you compare airlines and buses to BTS, the rules are different. How is that going to be seen and understood by the public and citizens? That´s the thing that has to be fixed. It´s not about that the protective measures is wrong. It´s about that they are no consistent. 

if you want to view inconsistency no need to look further than the west.. 

[from the home of CC]

45 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

The Thais who died early-on, infected by the Wuhan-carriers let in in February, were called "pneumonia" deaths - to cover for the CCP.  Only those infected from Europeans were labeled "covid" deaths, from the "dirty farangs" (health minister's words, likely written by the CCP for him).

I don't know the care-homes story in the UK, but was horrible in the USA:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/11/nursing-homes-us-data-coronavirus

Also, what NY and Pennsylvania did - forcing those facilities to accept known covid-positive patients, which led to mass-fatalities. 

There are 2 groups who are vulnerable - diabetic/overweight (other serious pre-existing illnesses) and the very old.  They are the only ones who need protection / distancing / etc. 

sorry, there's just not enough known about this virus to say it's just the diabetics and obese people that are at risk (which in the US is millions by the way so what's your point?) Do have a link for the Thai Government cover up? 

[from the home of CC]

42 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Given no large-scale testing, almost ALL countries have bull-figures.   NONE are accounting for the massive proportion of infected who never had symptoms. 

 

The hospitals are not overwhelmed here, which means there was no wave of those with severe-symptoms - likely owing to a generally less-overweight and younger (median-age) population than Italy, for instance.

and what of the very high rate of diabetes here - sorry, I attribute the lower rates with more social responsibility and maturity shown.. 

[kotsak]

1 hour ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

People just don't care. They wear the masks, wash their hands, use the gel. But the social distancing for some reason, they just ignore it. They got to use the train, they got to get in the store. Maybe in their minds they think the rest will be enough.

 

Mega Bangna last Sunday was an absolute zoo. Signs everywhere saying to keep 2m apart. Marks on the ground showing how far apart to queue. Totally ignored.

 

On a few occasions, I heard loud Thai being spoken like someone was talking in my ear. I look over my shoulder, they're practically on my rear end talking to their friends. I'm like, uh, excuse me? I motion for them to back off, and they nervously scurry away.

Just cough 1-2 times.. they will haul ass.. ????

[herfiehandbag]

1 hour ago, JackThompson said:

The Thais who died early-on, infected by the Wuhan-carriers let in in February, were called "pneumonia" deaths - to cover for the CCP.  Only those infected from Europeans were labeled "covid" deaths, from the "dirty farangs" (health minister's words, likely written by the CCP for him).

I don't know the care-homes story in the UK, but was horrible in the USA:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/11/nursing-homes-us-data-coronavirus

Also, what NY and Pennsylvania did - forcing those facilities to accept known covid-positive patients, which led to mass-fatalities. 

There are 2 groups who are vulnerable - diabetic/overweight (other serious pre-existing illnesses) and the very old.  They are the only ones who need protection / distancing / etc. 

Back in mid February my daughter (14) came back from spending Friday and Saturday at her friends house (and in the process spending time at night bazaars, walking streets, malls and cinemas. Sunday afternoon she had a high fever and was a very poorly little girl. I took her to the local (rural) hospital. The nurse there gave her some of those "Andrographis Paniculata" capsules, and we were told to bring her to the doctors in the morning. Next morning she was seen very quickly (the doctors obviously knew something was up), given a course of Tamiflu and sent home to bed. Wednesday morning the fever was gone, but I had it. I took "Andrographis Paniculata" capsules, and after a couple of days was fine. Her friends mother works at a restaurant which exclusively serves bus tours of Chinese tourists - she had it too.

 

Does make you wonder doesn't it?

Edited May 26, 2020 by herfiehandbag

[stouricks]

Just now, spidermike007 said:

First of all, in general Thais eat a far healthier diet than the majority of those in the UK, or the US, who eat a diet that is downright scary, from a nutritional point of view. Thais eat far more fresh fruits and vegetables, get alot more Vitamin D from the sunshine, have way better attitudes, and generally have far less stress in their lives. So, you are comparing apples with longans.

Not in my experience of 10 years. Thais eat RUBBISH, white processed rice, deep fried/battered stuff, the cheapest oil they can find, cover up in the sun.

[RichardColeman]

So if my wife sits on my lap am i ok with one seat ? 

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, from the home of CC said:

sorry, there's just not enough known about this virus to say it's just the diabetics and obese people that are at risk (which in the US is millions by the way so what's your point?) Do have a link for the Thai Government cover up? 

We do know who is far more likely to get serious complications from this virus.   The statistics are very clear:  Elderly, Diabetic, Obese, and some other pre-existing medical-conditions.   The young rarely even show symptoms. 

 

There were reports of deaths being counted as pneumonia early-on, combined with debate on Thailand "not testing" to keep covid-count numbers low.   Proving this will be difficult, given who controls the data. 

 

There is no debate about what the health minister said - how they tried to blame the West for the disease, when it was the CCP that closed off Wuhan to the rest of China, while allowing them to fly out to the rest of the world.

Edited May 26, 2020 by JackThompson

[lee b]

3 hours ago, lujanit said:

The same is going to happen if airlines are going to leave the middle seat empty.  The real question is if the rate of infection is so low why this so called social distancing?  The BTS doesn’t require it and markets don’t enforce it.  The government speaks with a forked tongue.  This <deleted> is all about power and nothing to do with keeping people safe.

I really hope not, because if true i doubt the price will go up by just a couple of hundred baht

[zzzzz]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

A statement that is so utterly simplistic, one does not even know where to start, to analyze it. First of all, in general Thais eat a far healthier diet than the majority of those in the UK, or the US, who eat a diet that is downright scary, from a nutritional point of view. Thais eat far more fresh fruits and vegetables, get alot more Vitamin D from the sunshine, have way better attitudes, and generally have far less stress in their lives. So, you are comparing apples with longans.

 

Social distancing is only part of the equation, as proven in South Korea. Immunity is a far more important element, than social distancing, which only means something if you are highly vulnerable to begin with. Based on the fact that we had millions of tourists here in December, January, and part of February, many of whom were likely infected with Covid, the Thai people appear to have a far greater natural immunity to Covid, than many others. It is likely huge numbers were infected, and never became symptomatic, which in my mind, is very reassuring! 

but it seems way less than khmers who are at around  124 infected, no dead yet no curfews, few restrictions (bars and restaurants open but schools closed) flights arriving from China japan and Korea and no social distancing in effect at all

[Syduan]

3 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

so you would want Thailand to have the 30000 dead like the UK prior to social distancing? 

Yea, but whatever you die of is marked down to this virus scam.

[DrTuner]

Strange that nobody has thought of an effective countermeasure. Force everyone to be quiet. The virus spreads best when you bellow your lungs out in choirs, pub etc. 

 

Ah, the sound of silence, bliss. Apart from some non-compliant blabbermouth getting pummeled once in a while.

[SantiSuk]

2 hours ago, Phoenix Rising said:

I thought intra-provincial travel was still restricted??

Grammar police here. Sorry to mark your card, nobody likes a nark.

 

"Intra" means within. "Inter" means between. Intra-provincial travel has never been restricted (albeit the 'stay-at-home' mantra has curtailed it massively)

[steve73]

By far the majority of deaths in the western countries, were in those with a well "developed" care home system for their aged population.  Over 80% of Canadian deaths were in such places, US, UK, France & Spain were all over 50%. 

 

These places house the most vulnerable - those with co-morbidities, etc, and once one person get's infected, then it must be very difficult to prevent the spread among both the staff (who are probably largely unaffected) and other residents.  Carriers between homes by external services; suppliers, medical staff, etc. would be likely.

 

Thailand (and most other SE Asian countries) have very few such care homes with high concentrations of aged/ill people, as most are looked after at family homes by younger generations, and with a much lower concentration the most at risk category living closely together.     

[DrTuner]

38 minutes ago, stouricks said:

Not in my experience of 10 years. Thais eat RUBBISH, white processed rice, deep fried/battered stuff, the cheapest oil they can find, cover up in the sun.

It used to be better a decade ago, you could even find fresh herbs in the dishes. Reason being they were sourced from local talads, that back then still had good produce. Might be easier to find again in the future if the locust tourists stay away and they can't export the good stuff.

 

And of course since then the shopping malls and the fast food chains filled the earth.

[SantiSuk]

1 minute ago, Syduan said:

Yea, but whatever you die of is marked down to this virus scam.

Half the members believe that whatever you die of will be marked as 'whatever'. Half believe that everything you die of is marked as Covid.

 

Nobody has offered any convincing evidence in support of either contention. Just what the owners of social meejah forums like this love!

[spidermike007]

2 hours ago, Traubert said:

Nobody is immune to any corona virus.

Total nonsense. To say that some do not have stronger immune systems than others is inane. Sorry, but what you said is beyond unscientific. Millions have been exposed to Covid, and did not get infected. Just like any other virus. Nothing particularly special about Covid. It is one of many corona viruses. Some immune systems are barely affected by Covid, and other Corona viruses, and other succumb. Why?

 

“We showed that even though COVID-19 is caused by a new virus, in an otherwise healthy person, a robust immune response across different cell types was associated with clinical recovery, similar to what we see in influenza,” says study co-author Prof. Katherine Kedzierska. “This is an incredible step forward in understanding what drives recovery of COVID-19. People can use our methods to understand the immune responses in larger COVID-19 cohorts, and also understand what’s lacking in those who have fatal outcomes,” she adds.

 

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/sars-cov-2-how-a-patients-immune-system-defeated-the-virus-in-3-days

 

Let's ask better questions: How do millions of people get exposed to the influenza and cold viruses every year and not get sick? Their immune systems successfully defend them against these viruses without antibodies. Why do most people, other than those with pre-existing health conditions, recover from the flu without serious health complications? They have better immune function than those with pre-existing conditions. So, what shall we do?

 

https://pamplinmedia.com/wbi-adv-insiders/458223-373383-natural-immunity-against-the-coronavirus

 

A key part of the immune system, T cells can recognize fragments of viruses. When the cells identify a viral protein, helper T cells release chemical signals that trigger other parts of the immune system to kick into gear. Others, called killer T cells, hunt down and kill infected cells.

 

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-t-cells-patients-immune-system

[smedly]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

A statement that is so utterly simplistic, one does not even know where to start, to analyze it. First of all, in general Thais eat a far healthier diet than the majority of those in the UK, or the US, who eat a diet that is downright scary, from a nutritional point of view. Thais eat far more fresh fruits and vegetables, get alot more Vitamin D from the sunshine, have way better attitudes, and generally have far less stress in their lives. So, you are comparing apples with longans.

 

Social distancing is only part of the equation, as proven in South Korea. Immunity is a far more important element, than social distancing, which only means something if you are highly vulnerable to begin with. Based on the fact that we had millions of tourists here in December, January, and part of February, many of whom were likely infected with Covid, the Thai people appear to have a far greater natural immunity to Covid, than many others. It is likely huge numbers were infected, and never became symptomatic, which in my mind, is very reassuring! 

I always enjoy reading your posts and they are usually spot on

 

but here's the thing and I will use the UK as an example

 

In the UK we have the ONS, a highly organised organisation that records absolutely everything especially concerning deaths (all deaths), the information they collect is highly accurate because there are laws and protocols that must be followed when someone dies in the UK

 

So let me ask you a question since you are so sure about the accuracy of the reported data in Thailand

 

How many people have died in Thailand over the last 5 months and what was the cause of death ?

 

In your answer please include how the data is collected in Thailand and how the certification process works (or doesn't actually)

 

 

[SantiSuk]

1 minute ago, DrTuner said:

It used to be better a decade ago, you could even find fresh herbs in the dishes. Reason being they were sourced from local talads, that back then still had good produce. Might be easier to find again in the future if the locust tourists stay away and they can't export the good stuff.

 

And of course since then the shopping malls and the fast food chains filled the earth.

You need to move to an Isaan village in the sticks DrT. Still loads of herbs, weeds hedge clippings etc in the food coming out of my mother-in-law's kitchen. Most have been self-collected (by her, not me) and the rest from the village markets collected by similar mother-in-laws. Yes - most villages above hamlet size in my part of Isaan still have a weekly market so that there is a market available most days within motorcycle distance.

 

Tesco doesn't sell half of the kind of stuff that Isaan villagers put in their curries!

 

I suspect the same is true in much of the rest of rural Thailand (where most of the Thai population live).

[smedly]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I believe them. It is very hard to hide massive numbers of corpses, and very hard to keep family members, who ALL have facebook and instagram accounts, from posting about massive numbers of dead loved ones. You just cannot hide that anymore

you do realise there is a huge stigma attached to CV-19 right, when people die here they are quite happy for it to go undiagnosed 

[spidermike007]

11 minutes ago, smedly said:

I always enjoy reading your posts and they are usually spot on

 

but here's the thing and I will use the UK as an example

 

In the UK we have the ONS, a highly organised organisation that records absolutely everything especially concerning deaths (all deaths), the information they collect is highly accurate because there are laws and protocols that must be followed when someone dies in the UK

 

So let me ask you a question since you are so sure about the accuracy of the reported data in Thailand

 

How many people have died in Thailand over the last 5 months and what was the cause of death ?

 

In your answer please include how the data is collected in Thailand and how the certification process works (or doesn't actually)

 

 

Unless I was surgeon general within Thailand, it is unlikely I would have access to information that detailed. All I know is if things were as bad as many posters on this forum insisted it was, people would be dropping in the streets. This kind of thing is hard to hide. Sure, there are alot of respiratory deaths in Thailand. We have some of the worst air anywhere, in the big cities. Could some of those deaths be Covid. Of course. But, does that make it a medical emergency? 

 

Here is some data from 2019. The Ministry of Health has identified that cancer is the number one killer of Thai citizens since 1998, adding that out of 122,757 new cases diagnosed in 2019, 73,000 patients have died. The article did not list the specific cancers although other research indicates that lung cancer is a leading disease amongst Thais. In comparison, the number of road deaths has decreased from 36.2 per 100,000 people in 2015 to 32.7 out of every 100,000 in the World Health Organisation’s latest report – around 21,000-24,000 annually over recent years.

 

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/number-one-cause-of-death-among-thais-is-cancer-related-diseases

 

Worldwide these are the numbers from Influenza related deaths last year. We estimated an average of 389 000 (uncertainty range 294 000-518 000) respiratory deaths were associated with influenza globally each year during the study period, corresponding to ~ 2% of all annual respiratory deaths. Of these, 67% were among people 65 years and older.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6815659/

Edited May 26, 2020 by spidermike007

[DrTuner]

4 minutes ago, SantiSuk said:

You need to move to an Isaan village in the sticks DrT. Still loads of herbs, weeds hedge clippings etc in the food coming out of my mother-in-law's kitchen. Most have been self-collected (by her, not me) and the rest from the village markets collected by similar mother-in-laws. Yes - most villages above hamlet size in my part of Isaan still have a weekly market so that there is a market available most days within motorcycle distance.

 

Tesco doesn't sell half of the kind of stuff that Isaan villagers put in their curries!

 

I suspect the same is true in much of the rest of rural Thailand (where most of the Thai population live).

I know, my MIL always comes back with bags of rice and other great produce from her farm. It's one real advantage of living in the middle of farms. The disadvantage is living in the middle of the farms - nothing much else there. And you have to take the overpriced buses to get there.

[time2093]

Anybody knows if these long haul buses are operating at night with the curfew or are just day trips?

[Silent Number]

4 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Every bus I've been on has been full. Doubtless others will chime in with different experiences.

No way your opinion is the only one that counts.

[smedly]

9 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Unless I was surgeon general within Thailand, it is unlikely I would have access to information that detailed

let me fill you in 

 

The only deaths recorded in Thailand are those in hospitals or those put in body bags shovelled off the roads

 

Those that die at home are not properly officially documented - there is no accurate official record except that a relative might inform the local authority that someone died 

[Moonlover]

4 minutes ago, Silent Number said:

4 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Every bus I've been on has been full. Doubtless others will chime in with different experiences

 

4 minutes ago, Silent Number said:

No way your opinion is the only one that counts.

It's not an opinion, it's a statement of fact. What's your point?

[mrfill]

1 hour ago, Syduan said:

Yea, but whatever you die of is marked down to this virus scam.

Can you explain then how, in the first 6 weeks, there were 50000 deaths (about 50% more) in excess of the 5 year average in England and Wales ?

 

Did they die from your so called scam? If so, it seems a very dangerous scam.

 

Or did they die from something unexpected and unknown but which has symptoms identical to covid-19, which was killing thousands across Europe at the time?

 

 

[Jcord1]

5 hours ago, lujanit said:

The same is going to happen if airlines are going to leave the middle seat empty.  The real question is if the rate of infection is so low why this so called social distancing?  The BTS doesn’t require it and markets don’t enforce it.  The government speaks with a forked tongue.  This <deleted> is all about power and nothing to do with keeping people safe.

Social distancing costs money.