rxpharm

17 hours ago, Pdoggg said:

A Bangkok hospital director has proposed flying in Covid-19 patients from abroad for treatment at his hospital.

This is a reflection that Thailand really has no effective plan for recovering from the drastically reduced tourism numbers in the near to intermediate future. There are no significant countries wanting to participate in their "travel bubble scheme", and no foreign airlines interested in reestablishing regular flights without a coherent international tourist plan.

They should have gone with a scheme similar to Iceland, test on arrival free for the first 2 weeks, positives have to quarantine for 2 weeks in a government approved location at their own cost, negatives can go on to enter and visit. After 2 weeks tourists have to pay for the test. This would have given them numbers that could start the rebuilding of their tourist industry.

Hopefully just temporary. I have used the bus on occasion as well.

29 minutes ago, Woodie said:

Are they real??

Clearly silicone enhanced breasts for LB Nut

9 hours ago, seven said:

Thats a ladyman?

Yes, she is. She was on Thailand's Got Talent in 2011.

7 hours ago, bumblebee said:

Only ever drank in there once, long time ago with Talisha.  From what I recall it had a wooden door unlike most places with curtains.

 

Good memory bumblebee!  Here is a photo of Casanova during the day, with its closed door.

Some bad news reported by the Stickman. Casanova and Mercury Bars are no more in Nana Entertainment Plaza - having not been able to make it through the COVID 19 loss of business. Also some gg bars are closed as well: Playskool, Rainbow 1 & 2, London Calling, and outside - Hillary 4. The NEP owners are offering some strong incentives for taking over the empty spots, but it would be a big gamble as it may take up to 2 years for tourism to get back to normal in LOS.

To the end of an institution - the oldest LB bar in Bangkok, and possibly Thailand,  Casanova closed.

Here is a video from Mark Wiens, popular food vlogger. He has made a recent trip to the China Town Street Food market and shows what things are like with social distancing.

On 5/24/2020 at 11:00 PM, seven said:

I don't know what makes you say you won't be immune to it as reports say otherwise. 

You are assuming that punters coming to Thailand will have recovered from a COVID 19 infection, or they have been vaccinated (whenever that is ready).

On May 21, The Guardian reported that Sweden estimated only 7.3% of Stockholm residents had developed antibodies by the end of April. Herd immunity is only protective when around 70% of the population has antibodies, which is why vaccination is better at creating herd immunity.

If anyone will be traveling to Thailand this year, the odds are high that they won't be immune.

1 minute ago, Ashoka said:

My ladyboy is telling me, youtube tv shows are showing, anyone coming into Thailand is being quarantined for 14 days.

Thailand has banned all incoming passenger air and ground travel except for Thais repatriating until the end of June. What the Youtube and the TV shows are showing are that any Thais or exemptions to incoming flight restrictions, anyone coming in right now by air or ground, and until further notice until the end of June has to serve a 14 day quarantine. They will be making another reassessment around mid June and we'll find out more details for the future.

The phrasing of the question is not correct. Many of the punters on this forum are in a high risk group - either over 60, or having some sort of chronic medical condition. So it should be are you willing to risk getting infected by COVID 19 to have sex with an lb?

I guess that depends on how horny you are and if you are willing to roll the dice. It is definitely going to be more risky than contracting HIV, or getting an STD.

What are the odds? Well, since there is a lot of disagreement about the actual reporting, we can look at a "super spreader" example and get a rough idea. In South Korea, patient 31 was responsible for spreading the virus to over 100 people in 3 weeks, which then resulted in 1000's more infections. Here is a great video about the case below.

If you are unlucky enough to come into contact with a "super spreader", and you are in a high risk category - (older male 60+ with pre-existing cardiac, respiratory condition, obese or diabetes) if you are diagnosed as +ve, there is a 4-11% chance of death as per the CDC

What is the risk of you actually contracting the virus? There is no definitive answer to this, but considering you won't be immune to it, then the odds are probably as high as catching a cold from someone.

I guess the only temporary solution is the "body condom" until we get an effective vaccine or drug treatment.

A Roadmap for Aviation Industry Restart has been published by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Airports Council International (ACI) World.

It's a 5 page document that I recommend anyone who will be flying review - and while it isn't binding on countries/airlines or airports, I think it will be used by many countries as there needs to be coordination. You can't have one country/airline/airport doing something completely different from another, or there will be travel disruptions.

This document also clarifies the IATA stance on blocking the middle seat on planes. It doesn't recommend this be done, but understands in the early phase of restarting, some airlines may offer this. They state that social distancing be

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Limited to the initial restart phase, as they are incompatible with the restoration and development of air connectivity over-time given their limiting factor on airport capacity and aircraft capacity.

That makes sense as there is no way that airlines can price affordable tickets if middle seats are blocked off long term (until an effective vaccine or treatment is found), and the volumes of passengers cannot be handled by current airport infrastructure if social distancing is maintained long term.

seven, it's too bad you can't view the video in your country - as she explains that wildlife meat trade (not wet markets) are not the only risk factors for pandemic starts. She also discusses intensive farming (factory farms) of livestock - where cattle, pigs, chickens, etc. are raised in extremely crowded conditions. Also the loss of wildlife habitat, increasing the exposure of wild animals to humans more frequently, climate change, and of course wild life meat trade. She also explained that a ban on wild life meat trade will not be effective. She was involved in the African effort to reduce wildlife meat trade, and it was only successful when they were able to find alternate sustainable means of income for the trappers, traders, etc. If that wasn't accomplished, the trade goes underground, which makes it more difficult to track and try to stop it.

The researchers at FAU used a combination of aerosolized smoke and glycerin to simulate a cough with particle sizes around 10-20 microns.

If you prefer Japanese researchers with a human example here is one below - with about the same results. This was posted by the India Times.

There are some possible clues how Thailand may handle tourists - they are rating countries red that do not have COVID-19 under control. They may allow tourists from green countries where COVID 19 is under control without restriction, and ban those from red countries or subject them to testing and quarantine if they test positive on arrival.

Here is an example of a wild Chinese lb who must be banned as a risk for spreading COVID-19. There seems to be a large number of them present on pornhub, so there must be a clampdown on that site, make the world safe again! It's all China's fault!

https://www.pornhub.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ph5e161dc583380

Blocking out the middle seat makes no difference - this is a video from the Florida Atlantic University how droplets spread from a cough with and without a mask.

They showed a regular surgical mask still having particles come out around the sides - which is why I would recommend an N95 mask while you're on the plane to reduce the chances of you inhaling those particles. Also If you aren't wearing glasses, wrap around safety glasses, sanitizing wipes/hand sanitizers, frequent hand washing and not touching your face all would be good strategies.

If you took time to watch the video, you will note that she doesn't blame the wet markets - she blames the wild meat trade, intensive farming and intrusion on wild life natural habitat. She also explained about her work to find alternatives to bush meat for people in Africa, as outright bans do not solve the problem, moving to underground less visible trade.

It has been 60 years (this coming summer) that Dr. Jane Goodall did her ground breaking research on chimpanzees. This video is an interview with her by Skavlan, it is very informative and eye opening with regards to wild life markets, intensive farming, bush meats, chimps, climate change, etc.

4 minutes ago, JustSumGai said:

Rx, it was with some excitement I went to that humidifier page...OH LOOK, it's like one of those menthol inhalers Thai's love to stick in their nose.  Um, no, it's a bit big.  Now I'm wondering if the airline personel or other passengers might object (SO MANY seem to just LIVE to object to things, ANY things, any things they don't know about, etc.)

gonna bookmark that tho. Might be handier to wet a bandana and use it as a mask.

You can always ask the airline if it is permitted and print out their response as evidence for the cabin crew. You are right about other passengers though - I would hope most are reasonable if you give an explanation. Your seat neighbors would probably benefit too from the additional humidity.  The model I linked to is rated as one of the best as it has a filter to reduce mineral build up and has a long lasting battery. You would have to ask for bottled water from the cabin crew to fill it during flight - no tap water from the washroom as that is likely unsafe. (There's a reason why there is a notice in the washroom not to drink the tap water).

JustSumGai - that is a great idea!

Here is another Asian Boss video interview with leading Korean Infectious Diseases expert. Dr. Kim and his reaction to COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories. This is highly recommended viewing.

For those of you who find that it is too dry on your long haul flights - consider this: Als Ellan Latest USB Portable Mini Humidifier

2 hours ago, JustSumGai said:

I'm not holding my breath on return. LoS is famous for tightening regs.  At this point I think you need an OK certificate (even tho you can get infected minutes upon leaving a Dr. office) and some very expensive health insurance proofs at least. With any luck their business groups will prevail upon them to make it possible for people other than the wealthy to begin to enter.  Then there's the getting IN part...wonder what cost will be when it does start again.

Those are temporary measures and will be replaced with less strict ones. Thailand's GDP from tourism is estimated to be between 9-17.7% - (likely an under estimate), so there is no way they would continue the strict measures for a long period of time and give up that kind of economic boost.

Here is a Reuters news release about the EU not requiring empty middle seats for airlines to resume flights.

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Reuters/Brussels

 

 

 

The European Commission will say on Wednesday that airlines will not have to leave the middle seats empty but the wearing of masks onboard and in airports should be required as travel across the bloc restarts gradually.

The guidance for air travel is part of a wider package of recommendations the Commission is issuing on Wednesday to gradually lift border restrictions and cautiously restart travel stalled by the coronavirus pandemic in order to revive tourism.

I expect that most other countries will follow this as well, since it is part of the IATA recommendations. It would make things economically unfeasible for people to afford tickets with the middle seats blocked off.

35 minutes ago, Pdoggg said:

Pattaya is really safe.  No new cases in 4 weeks albeit with limited testing.   This might be the safest time all year to order in from Thai Friendly as it is doubtful that Pattaya can keep new cases at zero once the economy opens up and people return to Pattaya from other provinces.

I was reading on Bloomberg, that Bumrungrad is taking a big financial hit as two thirds of their revenue if from foreigners.   They might try to reinvent themselves as a high end quarantine center. 

According to the article their most foreign patients are from Burma, UAE, and Kuwait.   I guess Burma doesn't have any good hospitals and the generals go to Bangkok instead.  I would think that the UAE and Kuwait would have good high end hospitals but I am guessing very expensive so better to fly to Bangkok. 

It wouldn't just be Bumrungrad taking the hit - the Bangkok Hospital Group (Bangkok Hospital, BNH Hospital (formely Bangkok Nursing Home Hospital), Samtivej, Phyathai, and Paolo Memorial hospitals) are also having financial hits as they also cater to medical tourism.

For UAE and Kuwaiti citizens (as well as all the Arabian Gulf Country citizens), medical care is free. The issue then is not the cost, but quality of care and other benefits. Most of the doctors in the major private hospitals (Burumgrad and Bangkok Hospital Group) are board certified, meaning they have taken their specialization certification in western countries. That is not the case for most Arabian Gulf doctors. In addition these hospitals also cater to the family - special Arabic food, interpreters, shopping trips, prayer rooms, etc.  However, there will likely be a decrease of medical tourism from the Arabian Gulf as long as the price of oil is this low. The governments will either stop paying for their citizens going on medical tourism or severely reduce the amount of reimbursement.

10 hours ago, strocube said:

Make of it what you will. I know fuck all about the president of Tanzania, but in this instance, I’d trust him over Bill Gates, the WHO, Trump, or Fauci.

How credible was Dr. Neil Ferguson? 
 

The fact that you will believe yet another African strong man president without checking into his background, and ignoring the fact that WHO does not do direct COVID-19 testing and ignore the statements in the actual article raising the credibility of Tanzanian President John Magufuli says it all. You gladly accept things as fact that fit your conspiracy viewpoint. You have repeatedly bashed news organizations and politicians of all stripes - yet here you are believing this report as fact when it is most likely President John Magufuli is lying to promote his own agenda.

Belarus is not Russia. It was part of the USSR, but declared independence on July 27, 1990 following the collapse of the USSR. Several cities in Russia are under lock down and they cancelled their May Day military parade and celebration to reduce the spread of COVID-19.