Returning to Paradise

[P&G]

I don't think it is pessimistic to assume a second wave. It is based on Professor Kim Woo Joo's opinion stating that teh chance of a second wave are about 80%. Maybe there will be no lockdown this time but there will be restrictions too. I don't really fear for my life. If covid hits again, I will have to stay home and I will protect myself till the development of vaccines at the end of next Winter. Meanwhile, I will try to find something positive in my "no life" and I will get prepared for the real end.
Anyway, I know the greatest risk would be to purchase an airline ticket then see Vietnam (I don't intend to return to Thailand next time but to Vietnam) ban travels from foreign countries again. So far, I am not allowed to travel abroad either.

I think being a little bit pessimistic is positive in this case. I ain't going to invest on travels whereas conditions are not met.
I wouldn't like to rush to Thailand as soon as it re opens and mix with tourists and mongers of the high season eager at recovering the good time they couldn't have. I would fear to catch teh virus in such conditions. I know that brainless mongers can be dangerous with such a disease.

BTW, I gonna keep on posting Vietnamese ladyboys to my collection again.

[Rockheart]

I'll be positive.

While we may never get rid of Covid, this second wave is just a big scare tactic.
Possibly it will continue on forever and possibly it will go away or anything in between.
There could be some cases in the fall, if people are vulnerable they should take extra care.

Second wave sounds like some kind of alien sci fi movie.
People watch way to many movies.
The zombie apocalypse didn't come as much as everyone seemed to be hoping for it.

Thailand was barely affected by covid. Losing all the tourist dollars any longer just seem ridiculous.
It is not like Thailand has much control of it's land or water borders anyway.
They can block flights from China forever and won't lose much as they don't spend anything in Thailand.

I have not bought any hand sanitizer and have never used a mask, I don't even know where to get one.
Everywhere you go gives you sanitizer, why buy it, I have plenty of soap.
If some business requires masks, they better supply me one, or lose my sale.

In other countries some governments are using this as means of control.
Thailand doesn't need to do that because they are already in control of everyone.

Hopefully when things open up everyone else will be to scared and I will have the plane to myself.
I am more worried about Hong Kong changing as that was my favorite transfer point.

[rxpharm]

Complete end to lockdown july 1st


https://pattayaone.news/complete-end...own-on-july-1/

That is potentially good news, but there are still announcements to be made regarding what restrictions there may be for international visitors. We will probably know more in a few weeks.

Note that any visitors will be subject to any Thai laws regarding social distancing and wearing of masks, etc.

As for the possibility of a second wave of COVID 19 - it is possible - the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 had a second wave and third wave. Hopefully it won't be as bad as a percentage of the population will have already been infected from the first wave.

[P&G]

I prefer to play cautiously. If it opens or just opens partially, I have a plan B and I will try to find a couple more plans B. This can be a good opportunity to evolve.

[Rockheart]

That is potentially good news, but there are still announcements to be made regarding what restrictions there may be for international visitors. We will probably know more in a few weeks.

Note that any visitors will be subject to any Thai laws regarding social distancing and wearing of masks, etc.

As for the possibility of a second wave of COVID 19 - it is possible - the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 had a second wave and third wave. Hopefully it won't be as bad as a percentage of the population will have already been infected from the first wave.

Now they are scaring people with a THIRD WAVE?
It's not 1919 and this thing is not serious unless you are very old.

The fear is far worse than the virus.

OMG there might be fourth wave and fifth wave.
I've heard you can die twice from Covid. OMG

This exactly how some people want us to be, forever.
The first wave actually hasn't arrived yet from what I have seen.

[Rockheart]

People have been upset about full flights. Maybe they should have flights for those who are scared and cheaper flights for those that aren't.
But i guess i would be on the murderers flight......

https://dailyhive.com/mapped/united-...es-flight-full

https://nypost.com/2020/05/11/united...d-coronavirus/

They say the Hepa filters in planes along with masks, reduce the risk significantly.
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com...le31694247.ece

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com...le31694247.ece

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/a...ring-covid-19/

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...ptcy-question/

A study in 2018 determined most people caught something in the airport or before their flight.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52822913

The USA is already working on implementing testing at security points at all airports.
They also are working with other countries to come up with a common standards for air flight between countries.
If they don't there will be mayhem. Passengers will get stuck and screwed up causing mass confusion if there is not global standards.

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how...after-covid-19

Emirates is already implementing covid testing.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...ptcy-question/


Maybe they could consider flying more international flights with smaller planes with bigger gas tanks?

[Rockheart]

Maybe some gogo bars could put like glass boxes where the ladyboys and girls dance beside you and above you.

I've been to one bar in Pattaya where they have a glass ceiling. Just a modification of that concept.

68725637-modern-conference-room-inside-glass-box-contemporary-business-environment-side-view-3d-rendering.jpg

[rxpharm]

A very pessimistic opinion of what the bar scene in Thailand might be like after reopening. This is a reader submission from The Stickman

After weeks of lockdown, a young, single guy heads out for a night on the town after bars finally were allowed to reopen. His choice is not a pub or disco, but a naughtier type of entertainment. After all, he’s been cooped up alone for weeks.

He grabs a taxi and heads to the strip, where, over the next six hours, he hops between three bars, drinking, dancing and getting friendly with the service staff and locals. As the bars close, he hails another cab to go home.

Two days later, the man wakes up with a scratchy throat and fever. A test later that day confirms he has the coronavirus. But he’s not the only one.

The hospital asks the 25-year-old where he was two nights ago. A school teacher, he lies, not wanting the private school where he works to learn he was at a bar of disrepute. It’s not until days later the truth comes out.

By that time, more than 100 others at or around the nightlife district are found to have Covid-19, including the 69-year-old taxi driver who drove the teacher to the bars. Both driver and passenger were wearing masks, but it didn’t matter. The cabbie then passed Covid-19 on to his 67-year-old wife.

The story above is not a hypothetical. It is what actually happened in Seoul this month, two days after the government reopened bars and nightclubs. As the new coronavirus cluster blossomed, Seoul shut all its bars again.

That is the challenge that Thailand faces. While the consensus is that Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy, Patpong, Soi 11, Khao San Road, RCA, Thonglor and other nightspots will reopen again, no one knows when or how. But before bars can reopen, owners will have to make major changes and customers accept some serious concessions to their privacy.

If anyone needed a reminder of just how contagious the coronavirus is, South Korea provided it. One infected, but asymptomatic, private school teacher ended up infecting more than 100 people, both through ignorance and deceit driven by not wanting his employer known he was in a gay bar. Substitute “gay” for “go-go” bar and you have Thailand’s problem in a nutshell.

Shopping malls, restaurants and even 7-Elevens this week began requiring customers to “check in” by either writing their names and phone numbers in a visitor’s log or scanning a QR code that would send their phone number and other unknown personal data to a centralized, government-controlled database. The so-called Thai Chana (“Thais Win”) web app is the Thai government’s amateur, ham-fisted attempt at contact tracing.

Done hastily and on the cheap, Thai Chana lacks the sophistication of smartphone-based contact-tracing apps that proved so successful in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. It also lacks the privacy safeguards of the software framework created for Android and iOS by Google and Apple. Instead, it uses the centralized-data warehousing model initially adopted, and then dropped by Germany, in favor of the Google-Apple system.

The Google-Apple system relies on Bluetooth and GPS data stored only on a user’s telephone to alert them if someone else with an Android or iOS phone has been confirmed to have contracted Covid-19. Thai Chana, by comparison, sends all personal data to the government, which will send out alerts to everyone who checked into a location where someone infected with the coronavirus also checked in. The alert allows the user to obtain a free Covid-19 test. And, in very Thai fashion, it also lets people leave reviews for places that do not – and do – enforce strict hygiene standards. (It didn’t take long for business owners demanding positive reviews.)

Thais and expats naturally are skeptical about Thai Chana. While the government has vowed that no one other than the Public Health Ministry would have access to the data, and it only would be used for publicly beneficial uses, the promises of former generals who overthrew Thailand’s last democratically elected government and spent the past six years rigging the election and violating human rights to suppress opposition hold little weight.

Nonetheless, that’s what Thailand has. But dodgy contact-tracing systems are better than no contact tracing systems. Make no mistake: Contact tracing is essential if Thailand ever hopes to reopen the entire economy, let alone the bars.

While Thailand crushed community spread of the coronavirus, no one really believes it has been eradicated as it has in New Zealand or Australia. There simply hasn’t been enough community testing to assure that. But the point of “flattening the curve” with a lockdown was to prevent Covid-19 from collapsing the medical system, not wipe out the virus itself.

Now that Thailand has done that, the next step is to put in place a system that can manage Covid-19 just like any other endemic disease like dengue fever or influenza. Covid-19 is not going away. But society can’t stay on lockdown forever, either. The keys are the Three Ts: Tracking, Tracing and Testing.

Until a vaccine is available – and there’s no guarantee one ever will be given the difficulty of vaccinating against coronaviruses – Thailand must be able to track down all Covid-19 cases, trace who the infected came in contact with and isolate all of them. Doing that prevents outbreaks from becoming epidemics.

Which brings us back to the bars. There’s no scenario in which the Thai government allows Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy, Levels, Insanity or other nightspots to reopen without contact tracing. None. Zero. While unhappy with the idea, bar owners are slowly beginning to realize that.

So what does the much-mocked “new normal” look like for Nana Plaza and other venues? It probably will go something like this.

The one public entrance to Nana Plaza will be manned with additional security and barricades. Most bar workers already have to check in and have their ID cards scanned to keep out minors, but now everyone will have to check in first.

Visitors will be strongly encouraged to scan the Thai Chana QR code. Those objecting will have to show their passports and have them photographed and their telephone number or email address recorded. Those bucking the system will be denied entry.

Once checked in, visitors will have their temperatures checked, be given hand sanitizer and provided a face mask if they aren’t wearing one already.

When shopping malls reopened May 17, visitors had to pass through screenings at the mall entrances AND at individual stores. One hopes that kind of overkill won’t be employed by each go-go bar in Nana Plaza. But it very well may be the case on Soi Cowboy and in Patpong where there are no central access points.

Once entering the bars, hand sanitizer will be required at each table. After that, the crystal ball gets hazy. Will there be limits on how many patrons are allowed inside at one time? Will social distancing between tables and bench seating be enforced? Will dancers even be allowed to sit with customers anymore?

People can postulate the worst-possible scenario, but it may be that QR code check-ins could be enough to placate the government, provided enough facility cleaning is done and hand sanitizer provided.

But will customers accept it? A recent online poll by the Pattaya News found 60 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t visit a go-go bar if they had to register. Of course, Pattaya’s online population doesn’t have the best record for level-headedness and reasoned thinking.

Most likely there will be a huge amount of kvetching and the Thai Visa mob will run wild, but, in the end, the hardened sexpats and beer-boozers will flock back to the chrome pole palaces and beer bars if, for no other reason, they have no other choice.

Bar owners, however, face more hurdles than just wary customers. How many of the ladies and katoeys will come back and expose themselves, so to speak, to a parade of potentially infected men all night, every night?

Bar bosses also will have to shoulder more expenses for those who do return. Regular, mandatory coronavirus testing likely will be required weekly or more often. Strict health screenings of every worker also will be required. Those leaving with a customer might even be required to record their customers’ contact details, something bar owners have actively discouraged pre-pandemic.

Anyone expecting Thailand to do the typical Thailand thing and simply forget about coronavirus health measures after a while, as it did the smoking ban or the TM30 bruhaha is kidding themselves. This is the greatest health crisis in a century and the bar scene as we knew it is over, at least until someone finds a cure for Covid-19.

[Rockheart]

Meh, bring it on. I will gladly catch it. I am pretty old but the chance of me dying is tiny.
Way way more people have already had this thing than we even can imagine.

Only the people with symptoms are being counted. 67 years old cab drivers should be staying at home while herd immunity takes effect in those not at risk.
All this huddling in fear is doing more harm than good. Far more people are dying and from being locked down.

The HIV epidemic in Thailand was far worse.

We are doing a disservice to the children. They could already be building immunity like in the past, that is what children do.
They build immunities that protect them as an adult.

[George Pill]

Oh, this is the post where I said my photos will soon become classics. How China's economic invasion happens AFTER I'm expired. After we're ALL gone. I'm kinda thinking the gradual reopenings will succeed since there infection and death rate is so low. Yes, it's the heat and humidity that's keeping it in check, but will the sex workers still be too scared to start servicing us? I think it is the FEAR that will ruin out vacation plans. Fine if you like to shop and eat, but I love the sex life. I won't use these protective equipment.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=zippere+mask&form=EDGEAR&qs=PF&cvid=3125624e35194573a93087847ce7420b&cc=US&setlang=en-US&plvar=0

[George Pill]

Wait some more, dudes.

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/no-date-for-resumption-of-international-arrivals-pm

[George Pill]

Amazing redesign plan for Pattaya's Walking Street. But what of the bars and ladyboys? Still be there?

https://thethaiger.com/news/pattaya/major-makeover-proposed-for-pattayas-walking-street

[George Pill]

I f I were in Pattaya right now I would love to see what it's like having a theater all to myself with no date. But will be lonely, of course. Mo beddah wait some more when the crowds lose their fear and flock in numbers. I have confidence Thailand will return to normal. Just a matter of time. This Central Festival's movie theater complex on the top floor.

https://pattayaone.news/movie-theater-quiet-on-first-day-of-re-opening/

[P&G]

Sex workers in their 20s and 30s scared of the coronavirus ! So funny.

What's not is to register one's name in each bar. I wouldn't imagine myself registering in a bar held by a crook posting in another forum.
All of this shows that Thailand didn't struggle efficiently against the corona virus.

[flamingofarmer]

I can't see any appetite for bar mongers who love anonymity being intrested in leaving contact details at every venue... first of all it defeats the purpose of enjoying the "culture", if you will, of the red light venues...Second its a creepy big brother move ( this could actually open the door to long term social monitoring of tourists...something Thai government has spoke of allot recently). And also its a logistics nightmare...I've stopped at many bars and stores for a beer or browse and carried on . So now its a check in check out everytime? Not intrested to take part in this experiment.
One other thing ...I have gotten stomach bugs 2 times in 4 years going there.... Being sick on a hot Thai vacation sucks , so there's that to consider.