News Forum - Tourists not wearing masks face tough talk from Phuket authorities

[Thaiger]

Expressing frustration against tourists that disregard Covid-19 safety rules and regulations, authorities in Phuket say they will take legal action against foreigners who don’t wear their face masks in public. Phuket’s immigration chief called on authorities to strictly enforce the regulations set out by the local Communicable Disease Committee that required that masks be worn at all times in public. Phuket has repeatedly attempted to remind tourists and foreigners on the island of the face mask mandate but a lot of their efforts have fallen on deaf ears as many foreigners ignore the rules and refuse to wear masks in […]

The story Tourists not wearing masks face tough talk from Phuket authorities as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[sprez33]

Wouldn't it be easier just to drop the outdoor mask rule?  Outdoor mask wearing is useless and even counterproductive to the extent that it discourages outdoor activity.

[Guest1]

I believe it, when I see it.

Right now, there is no such enforcement. Every day, there are more people walking even in 7/11s without masks over mouth and nose. And only few staff is saying something. They worry the thermometer beep, yes. Which is useless, since most convenient stores have the hand alcohol desinfection  bottle before the thermo measuring. Desinfect your hands gets them 1-2 degree down, easily!

And my thought about this anouncement is, that the pictures, videos, from Phuket, showing people not wearing masks, say in Bangla, are driving this orders.

Face 

Just that doesn't neccessary mean, real action will follow. Since they wanna have the money, but did not find a effective way, to make the tourist just send it, without showing up.

Classic "wash me, but don't make me wet" situation. 

 

[Guest1]

20 minutes ago, sprez33 said:

Wouldn't it be easier just to drop the outdoor mask rule?  Outdoor mask wearing is useless and even counterproductive to the extent that it discourages outdoor activity.

Depending on the outdoor area, and the amount of people there, dont you think? Aside that a mask is a great UV protector ;-)

[alex12345]

Yes dropping it would be better than fining tourists thats for sure

Edited January 19, 2022 by alex12345

[alex12345]

yes going for a walk in the clear air is unlikely to cause covid unless your in an outdoor bar. Covid clearly spreads in households or crowded indoor spaces, unless its by touch .. quite how it spreads still alludes me 

[palooka]

All these comments of "drop the rules" are wrong in that it is the law here.  Whether it is convenient, irritates, not good for selfies, don't believe masks do anything is totally irrelevant. 

This is probably one of the few rules Thais do obey and you want them to chuck it.

Obey the rules, if you don't like it you are welcome to leave and stop making life hard on all the resident farung.

[Nivram]

Person A coughs wind transmit droplets  through the air, person B with no mask breaths in droplets.

The only question is how far do the droplets travel in the air?

[Nivram]

Give me a 100 baht for every road death vs corona virus death in Thailand.

Which do you think would be more costly?

I think the local government officials should worry about the road deaths as opposed to corona virus deaths.

[Rain]

1 hour ago, sprez33 said:

Wouldn't it be easier just to drop the outdoor mask rule?  Outdoor mask wearing is useless and even counterproductive to the extent that it discourages outdoor activity.

That's seems the most sensible. Yet, outdoors in a crowded space might be a different matter. 

From less casual observations, seems that this mask-wearing consciousness - who's wearing, when to wear, etc - is most intense [and targeted] in and around highly popular playgrounds and the like. 

Whereas, throughout most of the country, it's been rather instinctive for everyone to mask up in the appropriate places and situations.....there isn't an intense official drive to be overly burdensome mandate directed towards the respective populations about this and that. 

[Rkim]

I understand the Govenor's frustration between safety and health advisory with rising numbers of corvid cases, but the numbers were going up in Phuket before the sandbox ever opened. 

Here is where the problem really lies, start giving out fines in the street for none compliance and that will hit world wide news and kill business and the sandbox in a hurry. 

Govenor needs to come up with something that does not cost money to tourists but they do learn their mastake something like run or walk around the block with a police man waving a flag saying I am a fool for not wearing my mask to protect myself. Film the punishment and send it to their home country news stations to broadcast so their friends, family and employer to see. 

[sprez33]

24 minutes ago, Nivram said:

Person A coughs wind transmit droplets  through the air, person B with no mask breaths in droplets.

The only question is how far do the droplets travel in the air?

True, but a symptomatic, infected person should not be outside......

[HiuMak]

Just follow the law. Period

[TheDirtyDurian]

1000 baht fine on the spot will soon get the message across.

And please ban all alcohol sales to foreigners

[palooka]

45 minutes ago, Nivram said:

Give me a 100 baht for every road death vs corona virus death in Thailand.

Which do you think would be more costly?

I think the local government officials should worry about the road deaths as opposed to corona virus deaths.

Yesterdays Covid death numbers for Thailand of 21,971.

1st April 2021 the number was just under 100.  Since then 21,800 have died from covid in just over 8 1/2 months.

On those figures Covid, how many will be dead by 1st April 2020.

Think those figures are lower than they should be, due to "convenience" numbering by the Govt.

[Nivram]

Exactly "follow the law".

Wear helmets on a motorbike.

Stop 3+ on a motorbike

Minors using a motorbike

Driving a car or motorbike without a license

Drunk driving.

Which is more concerning preventing road deaths or an asystemstic person without a mask ouside giving you a non live threatening illness (sore throat, fever, runny nose).

[Nivram]

Majority of all corona virus deaths were before vaccines were given.

How many of those 21,971 deaths were unvaccinate?

Road deaths happen whether your vaccinated or unvaccinated, wear a mask or unmasked.

[Rain]

10 minutes ago, Nivram said:

Majority of all corona virus deaths were before vaccines were given.

How many of those 21,971 deaths were unvaccinate?

Road deaths happen whether your vaccinated or unvaccinated, wear a mask or unmasked.

Obsessed with Thai driving character and practices, are we?

[Nivram]

Yup.

After I got hit by a drunk thai driver with no license.

He was wearing a mask.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Nivram
additional info

[Fundok]

I agree that masks should be worn outside when a lot of people flock together densely. But otherwise? If no one is around me within 2m distance, where is the risk for me or others? A general obligation to wear masks outside makes no sense on a risk-based approach for me. Hence enforcement action really only makes sense where the 2m-distance can not be observed. Common sense.

I mean once I sit down to sip a drink I can remove my mask and chat woth the girl(s) around me (most likely within less than 2m distance), but walking to the venue all by myself I have to wear a mask? Really???

Maybe it's just me but I cannot see the (risk-based) rationale behind this.

[Johnnyb2]

1 hour ago, Nivram said:

Majority of all corona virus deaths were before vaccines were given.

How many of those 21,971 deaths were unvaccinate?

Road deaths happen whether your vaccinated or unvaccinated, wear a mask or unmasked.

Good question. Let's ask more questions; What is the median age of covid victims in Thailand?  How many of the victims had comorbidities?

[Fundok]

2 hours ago, Nivram said:

Person A coughs wind transmit droplets  through the air, person B with no mask breaths in droplets.

The only question is how far do the droplets travel in the air?

Open air, not very far, and of course the farer away the lesser the virus concentration which also makes it less likely to get infected. The likelihood to get infected outdoors is significantly lower than when you arr inside. Eating with others in a restaurant with no masks on is much riskier than taking a walk on the beach.

[BongoBongo]

Has it occurred to anyone that it's too hot in Thailand for foreign people from cold climates to have an unnatural face covering. Put simply หายใจไม่ออก I can't breath. The fact that everyone follows this law (only in public, they often disappear indoors out of the public view), just shows it's driven by irrational fear. 

[Vince]

3 hours ago, Guest1 said:

I believe it, when I see it.

Right now, there is no such enforcement. Every day, there are more people walking even in 7/11s without masks over mouth and nose. And only few staff is saying something. They worry the thermometer beep, yes. Which is useless, since most convenient stores have the hand alcohol desinfection  bottle before the thermo measuring. Desinfect your hands gets them 1-2 degree down, easily!

And my thought about this anouncement is, that the pictures, videos, from Phuket, showing people not wearing masks, say in Bangla, are driving this orders.

Face 

Just that doesn't neccessary mean, real action will follow. Since they wanna have the money, but did not find a effective way, to make the tourist just send it, without showing up.

Classic "wash me, but don't make me wet" situation. 

Wasch mich, aber mach mich nicht nass ?

[Fundok]

1 hour ago, palooka said:

Yesterdays Covid death numbers for Thailand of 21,971.

1st April 2021 the number was just under 100.  Since then 21,800 have died from covid in just over 8 1/2 months.

On those figures Covid, how many will be dead by 1st April 2020.

Think those figures are lower than they should be, due to "convenience" numbering by the Govt.

I am not sure if these numbers really reflect the number of deaths that can solely attributed to Covid. Depends on how the numbers are tallied. Imagine someone being Covid-infected but ultimately dies because of the injuries suffered by a car accident. Will this person add to the number of Covid deaths even if - in this case - Covid was not the reason because the person died?

Statistics can be treacherous. What you can look at the excess mortality: how many people died before Covid vis-a-vis now. Still tricky, because in Europe the number of deaths because of influenza (can be several tens of thousands deaths in any given year) decreased significantly because the social distancing, hand disinfection and mask wearing very effectively combatted the spreading of influenza for two years now. So you need to make adjustments to your statistics, but at the end, the excess mortality really is an indicator showing the real impact of Covid with regards to the death toll.