Coronavirus - Thailand

[Marc K]

Some possible explanations. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...c0e_story.html

[arsenal]

MFAS wrote.
"It will be sometime till things are “exactly the same” as the government has effectively stopped the spread by clamping down on many things and I doubt they will readily open the door to a return of the virus."

They've got time to get everything ready just how we like it. I doubt many here were planning to go until October anyway..

[francois]

No hand shaking and the frequent wearing of masks springs to mind as 2 obvious reasons why it hit Thailand so little

However, judging on the average Thai washroom, washing hands with soap and drying with paper towels is definitely NOT a contributing factor!

It does seem that wearing masks could have been the reason.

[Nirish guy]

Na, I'm not buying the whole down to masks thing ...as lets face it when walking down the street in Pattaya or Bkk you didn't see THAT many people wearing masks and yes I grant you once shit kicked off I'm sure they were much quicker than the west at putting them on, but not in such a way as to create the vast differences in the number in deaths, also they "say" that masks if not worn correctly and put on and taken off correctly could well ADD to the problem of infection and cross infection and I'm guessing the average Thai wasn't changing and washing their mask and putting it on and off with great care every 2 hours as recommended ?

Also "surely" you'd think that scientists worldwide would by now have a fairly clear idea as to just how much masks ACTUALLY help ( or not) as even now the jury still seems to be out on that one - or maybe that's just as the West couldn't find any mask supplies of masks and weren't try to encourage their use by the population at large until they could source what they needed for the NHS etc ?

But masks being THE reason, no, I'm not so sure about that perhaps.......

[goji]

Also "surely" you'd think that scientists worldwide would by now have a fairly clear idea as to just how much masks ACTUALLY help ( or not) as even now the jury still seems to be out on that one - or maybe that's just as the West couldn't find any mask supplies of masks and weren't try to encourage their use by the population at large until they could source what they needed for the NHS etc ?

But masks being THE reason, no, I'm not so sure about that perhaps.......

I agree masks are probably not THE reason, however:

1 Countries with mask wearing required have had better results, almost without exception.

2 The tossers at the W.H.O. have avoided recommending masks, as they want to preserve them for healthcare professionals. One by one, western countries have started to change their position and either suggest, recommend or mandate mask wearing by the public in certain settings.

3 It doesn't take long looking for research material to find evidence of airborne covid, attached to larger particles which a mask can remove.

4 The only reason for the 2m distancing rules is for airborne transmission, since you can avoid physically touching people at <0.5m distancing. So airborne transmission is considered to be a factor. Which means a good mask should help.

5 If masks help in hospitals, they should help anywhere else where Covid might be in the air.

[arsenal]

Looking at the numbers is like trying to decipher a pattern in a dartboard. Nothing make a sense. There seems to be wild anomalies between cases and deaths.

[francois]

Na, I'm not buying the whole down to masks thing ...as lets face it when walking down the street in Pattaya or Bkk ...

But masks being THE reason, no, I'm not so sure about that perhaps.......

Not sure where you walk down the streets in Pattaya, but I do and about everyone is wearing a mask. Even on side sois at night I see children in a mask.
Here is an article which encourages mask wearing from a respected website.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/2020...1E8Rzamg1E8%3d

[Manforallseasons]

https://www.thejakartapost.com/seasi...-district.html

[Nirish guy]

Not sure where you walk down the streets in Pattaya, but I do and about everyone is wearing a mask......

Yeah I meant more in general and at the very start of the outbreak more perhaps as “in general” unless last they were Chinese ( or sick) Thai people “in general” didn’t wear masks whilst walking about the streets in Pattaya or elsewhere so the initial transmission numbers would one would have thought been about the same at the start of the outbreak.

Of course once it kicked in their adherence to wearing masks was much higher than in the West and perhaps that helped, but not enough surely to allow for the massive difference in deaths, especially when you factor in how many of their masks through bad fitting and hygiene issues were probably quite ineffective anyway no doubt.

And the same the shaking of hands as it’s said Thais Wai’ing may have helped too, but let’s face it the 1940’s version of the UK where we all go about shaking hands with each other is long consigned to history now in most cities in the UK so I doubt handshaking made a huge dent in the numbers either.

No doubt the answer will be found someday, my bet is going on genetics mainly with all the other small differences certainly helping along the way.

[bkkguy]

But masks being THE reason, no, I'm not so sure about that perhaps.......

there is no "THE reason" - it is always a combination of reasons and the mix is different in different countries but the mix has many common elements

for Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, and to some extent Thailand, the initial response was based on previous experience with SARS - respond quickly, respond strongly, testing, contact tracing, isolation of infected patients, restricting movement, wearing masks in public, etc

much has been written in the major news services about the comparison between these countries and their responses and the typical responses in many western countries based more on their experience with influenza, and also their slower and less organised and less coordinated responses, but in the end no country has a perfect record - even Singapore and South Korea are experiencing resurgences for different reasons

a perhaps bit of a rose-coloured view of the situation in Thailand, but it raises some interesting points:

Thailand and COVID-19: What’s Happened and What’s Next,
Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker, CSEAS NEWSLETTER, 78

and the mask issue is a complex one and policy is also evolving as we learn more about how the virus can be spread, particularly in confined spaces and in air-conditioned spaces etc, and as we progress towards making pragmatic decisions about how to get people, and the economy, moving again while significantly reducing the risk of infection (not eliminating it!) in scenarios where "social distancing" may not be practical, eg on public transport, in aircraft, in office buildings and lifts, etc and masks are an essential part of this

currently, perhaps the best analogy for why we should all be wearing masks is with pissing while naked:

Imagine we were all walking around naked - if someone started pissing then it would splash on everyone around, but if you were wearing clothes much less would actually get through to your body, and if the person pissing (even if they didn't realise they were pissing) was wearing clothes then much less would get spread around to everyone else