The sky is falling

[Gaybutton]

One of the things still not clear to me:  You go to a designated quarantine hotel with the expectation of having to stay there a few days and then you're released.

What if it doesn't work out quite that way.  What if other people in the hotel teat positive for Covid?  What happens to your own quarantine?  Will you still be released when you expected to be released?  Will you be held for further quarantine and testing?  If you have already left the hotel, will you be tracked down and re-quarantined?

What if you've been released, but Covid is found somewhere you recently were?  Will you be tracked down and re-quarantined?

What happens if you find yourself under quarantine the day you're supposed to be on a plane returning home?

I really don't know how any of that works.

[Guest]

A quarantine hotel is exactly that.  You're quarantined in your room and there is no contact with other hotel guests.

So if your neighbour catches COVID, it doesn't matter.

 

As for after release from quarantine, your odds of being tracked are about the same as for any other expat.  I only sign in to venues when I have to and good luck to anyone trying to read what I have written on the sign in sheet.

Being quarantined when due to fly home would just mean I need to move the flight.  No other choice.  Not the end of the world.

[vinapu]

8 hours ago, Boy69 said:

I lost track here when Thailand cancelled the test & go option

around mid-December, I understand not cancelled but just suspended

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, Gaybutton said:

One of the things still not clear to me:  You go to a designated quarantine hotel with the expectation of having to stay there a few days and then you're released.

What if it doesn't work out quite that way.  What if other people in the hotel teat positive for Covid?  What happens to your own quarantine?  Will you still be released when you expected to be released?  Will you be held for further quarantine and testing?  If you have already left the hotel, will you be tracked down and re-quarantined?

What if you've been released, but Covid is found somewhere you recently were?  Will you be tracked down and re-quarantined?

What happens if you find yourself under quarantine the day you're supposed to be on a plane returning home?

I really don't know how any of that works.

valid questions but z909 already answered, for all practical purposes after one is released it's almost impossible to track him, perhpas only by spying on his agoda bookings?

When I was there nobody asked where I stay before and what my next place will be / not that I'd answer honestly in all probability/ , nobody checked ID on airport bus to and from Pattaya not to mention quote packed trains to and from Ayuthaya.

In short , on vacation the same like in our daily lives we are taking a calculated risk

 

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, z909 said:

 

Being quarantined when due to fly home would just mean I need to move the flight.  No other choice.  Not the end of the world.

.....but sad end of vacations, perish the thought !

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, vinapu said:

valid questions but z909 already answered, for all practical purposes after one is released it's almost impossible to track him, perhpas only by spying on his agoda bookings?

Immigration can check where we live, as hotels report that and it goes on their computer system.

However, in terms of tracing where I eat and drink for potential COVID outbreaksand testing, there is almost nothing.  I think I signed in to a restaurant once in the last month and they wouldn't easily trace me from the scribble I left on the sign in sheet.  I made sure of that.

Meanwhile, despite almost no restrictions, it seems England may be past the peak of the Omicron wave, after some enlightened policy from BJ.

Whilst Thailand is a far more pleasant place to be in January, the Thai government haven't yet adapted policy to reflect the vaccination status of the population.  So we have another wave of unnecessary restrictions.  Eventually they might learn.

[Boy69]

8 hours ago, z909 said:

They are adding other sandboxes, but in Ko Samui and even smaller islands.

So it's a sandbox, or for the vaccinated, 7 day quarantine.  A sandbox would be the obvious choice.

 The sky didn't fell yet but the number of tourists arriving to Thailand will  coullopse for sure. 

[gerefan]

1 hour ago, Boy69 said:

 The sky didn't fell yet but the number of tourists arriving to Thailand will  coullopse for sure. 

You wouldnt think it driving along Soi Boukou in Pattaya..some of the bars were jammed full.

And for the first time today I saw quite a few guys walking with their “offs” both male and female.

Certainly nothing like last year.

 

[reader]

The Health Ministry today walked back dire predictions about Omicron, suggesting it might be time to lighten up on some restrictions. However, nothing was mentioned about "test-and-go" .

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2247663/govt-mulls-easing-virus-curbs

[Londoner]

Some good news at last.  The experience across the world has been much the same, starting in South Africa where Omicron was born. It seems to have just about peaked here in the UK.

  

[vinapu]

in the beginning they said 2 years and unfortunately it looks they were right, we are 2 month short from 2nd anniversary of first lockdown here and it looks bit better.

Poor Novak Djokovic, imprisoned for not being sick enough to go to hospital.

[reader]

(photo: Pattaya Mail)

People who have tested positive using home antigen tests (most of whom who have mild or no  symptoms) converge on Pattaya's Banglamung Hospital. Here they'll be assigned to a room in the hospital, in an isolation center, in a  "hospitel", or told to recuperate at home.

It's easy to see how hospitals are becoming rapidly overwhelmed with the current procedure.

https://www.pattayamail.com/news/long-lines-of-covid-infected-wait-at-pattaya-hospital-for-quarantine-bed-386280

 

[vinapu]

that's truly sick and insane assembling such crowds , suspected of covid at that

better to wait it out in half empty bar

[10tazione]

Real covid figures must be pretty high now in Thailand - just judging from the fact that Gmmtv is posting almost every day on Instagram that one of their actors got tested positive. So hopefully this will be over soon.

[faranglaw]

It seems to me that the chatter about power mad politicians and bureaucrats is a bit too fearful in the opposite direction.  There are so many variables with this disease and the decisions public health authorities must make are still life and death.  I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.  I had some experience in my union being on the executive, and many decisions we had to make led to accusations of being overly controlling, power mad, etc.  Not really true but some of our members let their emotions run away with them. 

Here’s an article on the current situation with Omicron, from the New Yorker.  We can see that there are still many unanswered questions and it is not at all clear how and where and when countries and economies should open up.  This leaves me with considerable empathy for the people making these decisions, and also a feeling of gratefulness that it’s not me making them.

Omicron by the Numbers
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/24/do-the-omicron-numbers-mean-what-we-think-they-mean?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_011622&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_recirc&bxid=5be9c79a24c17c6adf38ceb9&cndid=49338263&hasha=d8197887bc61ba75b03a39936ec68ff0&hashb=b5c5ac9a21955ee3cb29f1de63c473536955a688&hashc=532810e5334f61be3659e870f74e0064f6d9b0376f350eed40fceecdd149fbfb&esrc=AUTO_PRINT&mbid=CRMNYR062419