No End In Sight!

[Nirish guy]

I hope that's clear.

Or as Boris might put it - So if you're travelling - stay home, but travel when you feel you can, but stay home until you travel and only then after staying home, then do so until you travel, where if travelling you should really stay home, unless travel is unavoidable and it is it's fine, just as long as you're staying home whilst doing that. And whatever you do wear a mask, except when you cant and then don't, but make sure whilst not doing that that you wear your mask.

As that seems to sum up most British Government travel advice about most things these days apparently.

[Dodger]

https://www.traveldailymedia.com/tha...pen-this-year/

The Travel Daily Media article above states that "Elite Card Members" are included in those being allowed in-country, which is NOT TRUE.

According to everything I've been reading, the foreign Thai Embassy's have not acknowledged this as of yet, and without their acknowledgement a visa to come to Thailand will not be provided...end of story!

Also, according to the latest news releases on this subject, if and when this approval for Elite Card Members is linked to the foreign embassy's there will be QUOTAS and CONDITIONS that apply. You gotta love it. They're trying to sucker people in with the lure of a 20 year visa for a million baht, with absolutely no assurances that the members will even be able to board a plane to Thailand, let alone get white glove treatment upon their arrivals. What if one of the CCSA conditions is that no one (including Elite Card Members) can gain access to Thailand if they're coming from a country which ranks as "high risk"...(which would cover half the countries on the planet right now). I guess the poor guy who just spent a million baht ($34,000) for his membership in Immigration's Mickey Mouse Club has a bit more to be depressed about.

There is reportedly a surge in Elite Card Membership applications pouring in mostly from the USA and UK. I hope the applicants are doing their homework before making these huge on-line payments...which of course, are non-refundable.

What a scam!

[arsenal]

This idea that Thailand (or any other country for that matter) can cherry pick groups of desirable people to come in is ridiculous. Only mass vaccination of entire populations is going to achieve anything.

As it stands, anyone who falls into the arbitrary category of desirable is unlikely to be prepared to jump through the necessary hoops.

[Old git]

On the subject of vaccination, it has to be noted that not only has there never been an effective vaccine for any type of corona virus in the past, but studies of people who have had the bug show a fairly rapid attenuation of antibodies. The best we can probably hope for is a monthly jab for the most vulnerable.

On the matter of the economic cost to Thailand, we have to recognise the delusion in Thai government circles when it comes to the importance of tourism to the Thai economy. I am pretty certain that the official figures do not count the cash paid to working girls and boys and the support given to Thai families by farangs. Most spending in bars also probably goes under the radar. It may well be the case that the financial dependence of the Issan economy on the sex tourism trade will only become apparent when there is another red shirt revolt, but their impoverishment may not provoke that on a major scale until the new year.

Meanwhile the delusion that the bug can be eradicated is now laid bare by it's resurgence in New Zealand - previously the only country with a million plus population that appeared to be anywhere close to achieving that. However against that, the medical profession has got treating this bug pretty well sorted now, and deaths are pretty much confined to those who were already in their final days.

We have to live with this bug, and get back to normal, but I suspect that getting that message accepted in the LoS may take longer than in many other destinations. I suspect the Caribbean and Latin America will be much quicker off the mark than Thailand in that regard, at a great and enduring cost to the Thai economy.

But.. there could now be some opportunities in the LoS. Chinese interests have invested very heavily in tourism real estate in recent years, but the tourists themselves were pretty useless to the Thai economy, mostly arriving with very little spending money. Politically, welcoming back Chinese tourists will be a very hot potato, so I expect their numbers will fall dramatically, even after normality has resumed. It follows that there may well be a glut of property on the market in the tourist areas, and some consequent bargains to be had.

There is also a sporting chance that Thailand's over-priced currency will correct as the tourist high season is not matched by forex inflows; however as forex markets are notoriously counter-intuitive, I'm not making a hard forecast there.

The 64 thousand dollar question is whether the high octane intimate nightlife scene will resume as of old, or whether tourists (and in particular older, and more vulnerable tourists) will prefer a more cautious option - time will tell..

[goji]

The best we can probably hope for is a monthly jab for the most vulnerable.

How do you conclude that ?

Whilst it may be a possible outcome, I haven't seen anything that remotely suggests this is a best case. If you have, please share the link.

There have been studies showing that T-cells are present almost 20 years after the sars cov-1 outbreak & apparently this improves resistance (I'm not an expert).
The following article is interesting: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02400-7

[Old git]

"How do you conclude that ?"

Simply seems a reasonable deduction, given that the natural resistance built up during an infection (antibodies) are being observed to wear off pretty quickly. It follows that the resistance delivered by a vaccine is also likely to wear off rapidly.

[goji]

"How do you conclude that ?"

Simply seems a reasonable deduction, given that the natural resistance built up during an infection (antibodies) are being observed to wear off pretty quickly. It follows that the resistance delivered by a vaccine is also likely to wear off rapidly.

From what I'm reading, the antibody count falls off quite quickly, which isn't necessarily the same thing as resistance.
(i) They don't know how many antibodies are needed to provide immunity.
(ii) T-cells, memory-B cells and who knows whatever other parts of the immune system have a much longer life. That's from what I read. I'm making no claims of expertise in this topic, but it is interesting and very relevant to when life might get back to normal.

Incidentally, all I can remember about the immune system from my biology O-level was antibodies. None of this stuff about T-cells, memory-B cells and several other methods of immune system response.
Am not sure if we got a simplified syllabus, or if I just forgot. Or even if some of it wasn't well known back in the 1980s.

[Old git]

My education was pretty similar..

[sglad]

On the matter of the economic cost to Thailand, we have to recognise the delusion in Thai government circles when it comes to the importance of tourism to the Thai economy. I am pretty certain that the official figures do not count the cash paid to working girls and boys and the support given to Thai families by farangs. Most spending in bars also probably goes under the radar. It may well be the case that the financial dependence of the Issan economy on the sex tourism trade will only become apparent when there is another red shirt revolt, but their impoverishment may not provoke that on a major scale until the new year.

Do you have any figures/sources to support your assertions at all? Or is this just another case of the white man overstating his importance to the Thai people and economy as he forlornly brushes his pith helmet with one hand and jerks off his withering cock over a naked pic of a brown Thai boy whom he can't wait to "help" or rather, help himself to, with the other?

The Thai powers-that-be are under no delusion about the impact the China virus has had on their economy - the dire statistics are coming out everyday - but all things considered, they've decided to put their people's safety and health above all else. No doubt farang who are used to the self-comforting mindset that everything is about money in Thailand are finding the current state of affairs unsettling and an affront to their own fragile sense of self-worth and usefulness.

If you knew anything about Thailand, you'd know that 90% of the sex industry is meant for local consumption and far away from the neon lights of Pattaya, Patong and Patpong. The remaining 10% comprise of Chinese, Japanese and other SE Asians, with white Caucasians a fast decreasing number.

[goji]

A torrent of good news. An interesting video regarding immunity.