Miscellaneous COVID-19/Corona Virus Discussion, Questions, etc.

[AlexO]

Not sure how many Udon expats will be affected (was quite a few 20 years ago), but with the UK govt freezing all rent payments (private and public sectors) during the emergency how many here are reliant on renting their UK house/flat out to pay for their life in Udon?

Where was that one published. Cannot see anything mentioned in any of the UK MSM.

[choi choi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPpoJGY ... x=131&t=0s
Interesting video Coronavirus originated

[Stantheman]

Looks like the incoming tourist trade will be almost nothing with the implementation of new requirement for health certificate and coronavirus insurance of up to $100,000 as reported bt Bangkok Post.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... s#cxrecs_s

[tinpeeba]

Its all about nonsense standards more like . Something needs to improve there , and soon .
Think about it , in the last few years , they have been responsible for SARS , two bouts of swine flu , and now this Corona virus .
Yet the W H O does nothing , the Chinese authorities do nothing , and the whole world pays the price .
They need to up their game and smartish , or next year it will be something else that will spread from China

This explains why new diseases keep emerging from China

[parrot]

This explains why new diseases keep emerging from China

Thanks for posting that video. A few thoughts about eating wildlife.....In Thailand, I've seen villagers eat a wide variety of wild animals.....rats, snakes, birds, lizards, and many protected animals. The last time my wife visited Laos, she said there was a wide variety of wild animals available in the market. One man bought wild bear meat and brought it back to his hotel to be cooked. In Thailand, often the innards are as valued as the meat itself. With the influx of Chinese into places like Laos, I'd guess that some are taking advantage of more lax conservation (if any) there.....and probably ship either live or dead animals back to China where they can sell for more.
I'm not sure of the exact mission of the National Wildlife Federation in the US Embassy in Bangkok.....one American and one Thai........but I know that the Thai man has been traveling throughout Thailand to help educate Thais (not sure exactly how) on the illegal export of wildlife.
As I mentioned on another thread some time ago, when I was stationed in Taiwan 40 years ago, the night market hosted a few snake salesmen. Some of them would hold up a live snake while expounding on the medicinal qualities of the snake meat and blood. Then, after a crowd lined up, he'd slice the throat of the snake and pour the blood into shotglasses. I saw a few men belly up to the bar and toss a glass back as if it were white lightning. I've seen the same thing with some villagers who thrust up their arm as signs of manhood while eating the innards of animals.
Many Asians have wildly different ideas of the benefits of eating such things......completely different from our USDA-approved habits.
Thanks again for sharing.

[noosard]

Thai eat bats as well
How I know as they were catching them acroos the road at the wat
I got one of the poor things to show my son
Let it go afterwards
Body wise would have been finch size

[choi choi]

This is scary.Fit young woman fighting for breath!
I'll not survive for sure!
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11213924/ ... ronavirus/

[noosard]

My wife is part of what is village police
Yesterday she asked me what questions should be asked of farangs and pee noi ( little ghosts ) that have travelling back to the area

I told her
Id (passport or d/l )
Where have they been in the last 14 days
Are they well
Where are they staying and contact number

[mak]

From the same article:
"Inbound Thai passengers are not required to have the Covid-19-free health certificates but they must have certificates confirming they are fit to fly, as well as letters issued by Thai embassies certifying they are Thai nationals returning to Thailand."

[ezrider]

not ez for Thais to get.


Inbound Thai passengers are not required to have the Covid-19-free health certificates but they must have certificates confirming they are fit to fly, as well as letters issued by Thai embassies certifying they are Thai nationals returning to Thailand."
So besides the Thai passport you must have a letter saying you are Thai.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ck-in-rule

[ezrider]

for Thais or returning expat residents, acquiring all these documents will be difficult if not impossible-hoping the requirements change soon.

[mak]

Keep up the good work.

[GT93]

While Trump has been downplaying the pending public health disaster:

Ventilator manufacturers could achieve, within a few months, a significant boost in production from about 50,000 units a year currently, said Julie Letwat, a health-care lawyer with McGuireWoods in Chicago who is monitoring the industry. Orders have not flooded in, she said, because most hospitals can’t afford to increase inventory of expensive equipment for what could turn out to be a short-term event.

“The risk is that they’ll never be used, and hospitals can’t eat the cost," she said. “Most hospitals in this country are not profitable."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... ronavirus/

[GT93]

That's from the international departure hall at Auckland airport. The world is going bananas.

[GT93]

Don't forget to wash your hands frequently.

Chronological age is different from biological or physiological age. I recall listening to a porky guy at my gym saying he'd been put through a battery of tests to get his biological age. He'd regularly been doing weights with a personal trainer for over a year but he looked a bit big to be able to run. I think I had seen him occasionally walking on a tread mill. He said he was 64 years old but had been advised biologically that he was 83. Our biological age probably correlates better with the risk of the Coronavirus killing us.

A reader who say runs regularly and eats well might have a biological age over 10 years less than his chronological age. However I understand genetics is the biggest factor in determining our biological age.

[tamada]

The risk warnings that have been issued by the WHO and the public health departments of various countries have only quoted chronological age and the impact of any concurrent immune system deficit. Some very recent statistics indicate that the mantra that those +65 can expect higher mortality rates may not be universal.

This 'biological age' is a straw clutch for the Peter Pan wannabe's of the "65 but look like 45" crowd. It is an irrelevant self deception that probably doesn't work well on dating sites or in the Cow Shed either.

Being either 35 and unfit or 65 and "fit for my age" doesn't mean squat. Unless you are aggressively practising social distancing short of the whole self-quarantine routine, your risk AND SUBSEQUENT RISK TO OTHERS is still higher than it needs to be. That's unacceptable.

Now, go wash your hands (again) and look after yourselves and your loved ones.

[Whistler]

My wife is part of what is village police
Yesterday she asked me what questions should be asked of farangs and pee noi ( little ghosts ) that have travelling back to the area

I told her
Id (passport or d/l )
Where have they been in the last 14 days
Are they well
Where are they staying and contact number

Only farangs and little ghosts?

If I was pulled up and asked the questions, I would ask why single out farangs and politely refuse, farangs are not the cause of Covit 19 getting into Thailand. Lets not let the dysfunctional Minister for Health blur the facts and allow racism to get a bolster as part of this awful pandemic

As of March 15

COVID-19 were announced by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH),
bringing the total number of cases in Thailand to 114.
• Nine cases are linked to Bangkok boxing stadiums.
• Eight cases are linked to a previously reported cluster from a Bangkok
pub. There are now 21 cases included in that cluster.
• Three cases are related to the Suvarnibhumi airport in Bangkok including
an immigration officer and two workers at a restaurant there.
• Seven cases (5 Thai and 2 non-Thai) had recently traveled abroad.
• Two cases are linked to a restaurant owner (Case #59).
• Three cases are under review by an expert panel and 51 suspected cases are pending laboratory
confirmation.
• Of the 114 COVID-19 cases reported in Thailand, 37 have recovered, 76 are in hospital (one is in severe
condition), and one has died. 48 are imported cases, 55 are locally-transmitted cases. The source for the
remaining case is unclear.

[tamada]

It's a passive way of placing an undesirable, published travel ban. Let a 3rd party like the airlines enforce it. Since the airlines don't want to foot the bill for flying any 'rejects' back to their airport of origin, they will comply. People will be denied boarding from the get-go.

To all intents and purposes, it's the same travel lockdown that bigger and better counties, fearful of collapsing trade and stock markets, have been reluctant to call as such. Smaller nations with a lower feeling of self-importance such as the Czech Republic, did this about 12 days ago and called it exactly what it is. More recently Australia, New Zealand and very importantly India have now closed their borders.

'Soon' is a relative term.

[noosard]

You may try to refuse
but will end up locked up
just for not being polite and not answering easy questions

[jackspratt]

These new requirements are the equivalent of trade related "non-tariff barriers", where countries, precluded under trade agreements from increasing import duty rates, simply impose other expensive requirements such as standards certificates, pre-export inspections, quotas, etc etc.