Phuket Sandbox open; TAT awards “Amazing Dodgems” moniker

[christianpfc]

...at a time when the lives of so many people are at stake,...

Number of lives lost is insignificant, both for Thailand as well as worldwide. Similar numbers of people die from road accidents, smoking or drinking related diseases and other.

Every year 55 mio people die worldwide. At peak, there were 15 k death with (not from!) Covid daily, which makes 5 mio per year, which would be a 10% increase. However many of them would have died from something else anyway, so the real increase of mortality is lower than 10% and probably just above statistical noise.

Before the current outbreak in Thailand, there were more death from suicide for economical problems (due to Covid) than Covid.

This is a clear case where the remedy (lockdown, travel restrictions, limitation of social activities) is worse than the disease.

[goji]

Number of lives lost is insignificant, both for Thailand as well as worldwide. Similar numbers of people die from road accidents, smoking or drinking related diseases and other.

I expect certain people will again claim this is heresy, but so far 2625 people have died in 18 months of covid in Thailand, whereas according to some sources, 20,000 die every year in road accidents. So it's correct.
That's every year, not a once in a century pandemic (approximate frequency).

Meanwhile, in the UK with a similar population, about 1850 die on the roads

[gerefan2]

I expect certain people will again claim this is heresy, but so far 2625 people have died in 18 months of covid in Thailand, whereas according to some sources, 20,000 die every year in road accidents. So it's correct.
That's every year, not a once in a century pandemic (approximate frequency).

Meanwhile, in the UK with a similar population, about 1850 die on the roads

20,000 in Thailand v 1850 on the roads in the UK.
2635 in Thailand v 128399 of Covid in the UK.

[dinagam]

20,000 in Thailand v 1850 on the roads in the UK.
2635 in Thailand v 128399 of Covid in the UK.

There are proportionately more obese people with comorbidity in the UK cf Thailand?

[Dodger]

Before the current outbreak in Thailand, there were more death from suicide for economical problems (due to Covid) than Covid.

This is a clear case where the remedy (lockdown, travel restrictions, limitation of social activities) is worse than the disease.

Thailand has a potential disaster on its hands with the Delta variant sweeping across the Kingdom, and doesn't have enough vaccine for a single province - let alone the country. Adding to this threat, is the fact that the Sinovac vaccine that the majority of Thais are receiving doesn't appear to be effective at protecting against this variant. The hospitals over here are already filled to capacity, and testing for the virus is over-capacity.

This all adds up to a potential disaster unless the lockdowns can slow the spread of Delta - and the government can get off its ass and get some quality vaccine over here - and soon.

The economy if fucked. No two ways about that. And everybody knows why. No confusion about that either. But sometimes in life happy-mediums just don't work. And, unfortunately, this is one of those times.

Not too many people were over-concerned about wild fires in California until the climate changes caused "Super spreaders" that were simply impossible to contain and crippled the State. This virus is the same. Right now it's being somewhat contained, but with this new variant, if it gets out-of-control (similar to the California wild fires), all those numbers that you guys are seeing can can be tossed right out the window. It would be a disaster.

[dinagam]

Animal husbandry is very extensive in Thailand and the farmers have cheap access to ivermectin which has been proven effective in reducing the virus loads in patients according to reports from around the world.
This therapy should be promoted while waiting for the vaccines from rich big pharmas to arrive as the population succumbs to the infection in bigger numbers.

[bkkguy]

Number of lives lost is insignificant, both for Thailand as well as worldwide. Similar numbers of people die from road accidents, smoking or drinking related diseases and other.

if you sit drinking and chatting with a friend for a few hours in a pub and he dies in a car accident on his way home this does not significantly change your, or your family members, or other friends you chatted to later that night, chances of dying in a car accident and deaths do not increase exponentially in this case, but if your friend is infected with Covid ... so we are not really comparing like with like here - communicable v's non-communicable diseases

I am not arguing that deaths from smoking, drinking, drug abuse, road accidents, etc are any less important than deaths from a new virus pandemic, but the tools to control, the timeframes to control, and the willingness of the government, the business community and the population, to implement the control tools differs for different situations

Before the current outbreak in Thailand, there were more death from suicide for economical problems (due to Covid) than Covid

and during the current outbreak?

you can pick any limited timeframe in any specific country to prove any point you want to make, but for Thailand now to make decisions for the short term and long term future of the country looking at the broader international experience with what is afterall a global pandemic may be more useful

[goji]

we are not really comparing like with like here

Too damn right, the road deaths are worse, but policy ignores them !

Of the people I know who died with covid, one was dying anyway, caught covid in one of our NHS hospitals and is hence recorded as a covid death. The other was 94. Looking at the UK stats, this common.

Meanwhile the average age of road traffic deaths is likely to be well under 40.
Am not sure about other members, but I'd rather die a few weeks early from covid than have died in my 20s, 30s or 40s in a traffic accident.

Then the Thai road traffic deaths are every year. Unless there's a radical change in government policy, it will be 20,000 per year in 2030, whilst covid might be a distant memory.



Then, to cut the road traffic deaths requires much less damaging interventions, with almost no economic side effects.

[Armando]

Of the people I know who died with covid, one was dying anyway, caught covid in one of our NHS hospitals and is hence recorded as a covid death. The other was 94. Looking at the UK stats, this common.

Meanwhile the average age of road traffic deaths is likely to be well under 40.

I for one totally fail to understand this odd desire to equate car accidents with covid. I realise that those in the debate are talking about deaths. But covid is far from all about deaths. It is about entire national and international economies. A car crash affects relatively few people. For the state, perhaps the time of a few cops, a few nurses and a doctor or two, and a company to tow away the wreck. Total cost to the state - not more than 50,000 baht.

This pandemic is affecting the lives and livelihoods of several millions of Thais and costing the country quite a large fortune. An entire industry that contributes something close to 20% of GDP is on life support. Top keep talking only about deaths is frankly nonsense.

[cdnmatt]

I for one totally fail to understand this odd desire to equate car accidents with covid. I realise that those in the debate are talking about deaths. But covid is far from all about deaths. It is about entire national and international economies. A car crash affects relatively few people. For the state, perhaps the time of a few cops, a few nurses and a doctor or two, and a company to tow away the wreck. Total cost to the state - not more than 50,000 baht.

This pandemic is affecting the lives and livelihoods of several millions of Thais and costing the country quite a large fortune. An entire industry that contributes something close to 20% of GDP is on life support. Top keep talking only about deaths is frankly nonsense.

That's his whole point. He thinks the lockdowns hurt more than they help, so we should all just fling the door open so everywhere in the world can get absolutely decimated like what happened in India a little while ago.

Then we can really get some strong varitans going...