Phuket governer reviews rules, new details for July 1 arrivals

[Guevara]

4 hours ago, bushav8r said:

Where did they put their finger?  Must be in the stink and not the pink.

The Embassies and Consulates hands are tied until everything is published in the Royal Gazette next week.

[ISRAEL-NEWS]

 

i m sorry but with all the restrictions thailand will be empty from forigen tourists for a long long time. 

 

 

[King Cotton]

3 hours ago, Spinner said:

My wife who is Thai and is based in Hong Kong but has sold up and planned to join me at our home in Chalong . She has been refused a COE to join me in Phuket as part of the Ridiculous Sandbox .

We have had a house in Chalong for 20 years andI have lived here on a retirement visa for many years .We both had 2 Sinovac injections in April .

I have already completed my quarantine.

If she was a Farang she would get the COE 

Is there any justice left in Thailand ? 

Sorry, Spinner, but you know what my one-word answer to that question would be. The entire sandbox fiasco is now getting even sillier than its name. Who the hell thought-up 'Sandbox', for Christ's sake?

 

Hello, Spinner and welcome to Thaiger Talk

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

King Cotton

[King Cotton]

1 hour ago, RayW said:

Sandbox good luck. Just one question .

Who pays for all the tests ?

Ray

Oh, come on; who do you think . . . Phuket's governor? No, it will be one of the many financial jolts that visitors will receive.

 

Hello, RayW and welcome to Thaiger Talk

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

King Cotton

[King Cotton]

50 minutes ago, ISRAEL-NEWS said:

i m sorry but with all the restrictions thailand will be empty from forigen tourists for a long long time. 

Understandably, a pretty sorry-sounding debut post, but that's the way it is, sadly.

 

Hello, ISREAL-NEWS (great name!) and welcome to Thaiger Talk

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

King Cotton

[skytrooper70]

Is there any info on transport around the island? I believe visitors have to take their SHA PLUS hotel transport, from the airport to the hotel, upon arrival. However, what about travel, after arrival at the hotel? Are rental cars, taxis, baht buses, tuk tuks, going to be available? How will anyone know whether the drivers are vaxxed (one or two jabs)?

[Steven]

The product (tour) quality has significantly downgraded, yet selling with a premium price + high risk. 

Now, please allow me to explain:

College kids and fixed income folks who often fly non refundable economy have TIME. (They usually complain about a few hundreds buck and stay in a cheap hotel). 

Folks who fly first class do NOT have TIME. (They are usually middle-age folks with money, they also tend to have more options such as the Maldives). 

The families- price, time, risk are indicative of "let's talk about Mexico or Malta" 

The Johns- who are planning to experience the best and brightest of Soi Patong are recalculating based on the prospectus and finding their ROIs is diminishing. They are likely to take a short position on Thailand now. 

Youtubers- Yes, we will go and make this multisegment show, "How I enter Phuket" "My first day in Phuket in July 2021"

Two guys from Sweden, "Ja Ja, ok let's go to Phuket" 

Chinese - no mega group tour? No buffet? No fire-sale shopping...Nooooooooo

Japanese and Koreans: we got 3.5 days off, annual vacation and 0.5 sick day and 2 days of paternity. 

Auzi- Sorry mate, we cant get out. 

Indians- High Risk-  oh noo, Sir.

The Americans- "Phuket? yeah ok let's do it. Wait, is Phuket spicy? Cus' I'm on medication. Can we just do Pad Thai and fried chicken, Phuket sounds really spicy." 

0.7 Israeli and 2 Qatari are coming. 

Africans and other ASEAN- huh? What is in the Box? Oh sandbox. 

Sadly and evidently, Thai tourism and financial industries have very little or no lobbying power to help guide the policy makers. 

[321BOOM]

2 hours ago, Tjampman said:

You are either misqouting, misunderstanding or misleading!

But feel free to link to this "leaflet" and then will tell you which.

(you don't say so directly but to me, it sounds like you are saying that 3 out of 10 pcr tests are false negatives)

No, I say 3 out of 10 PCR tests are false positive.

[AussieBob]

In laboratory conditions, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for coronavirus achieves 100% sensitivity, meaning there is zero chance of returning a ‘false negative’.  However, multiple studies have subsequently shown that accuracy diminishes substantially in clinical settings, and as many as one in three coronavirus cases may be missed. This can be due to multiple reasons, from conducting the test incorrectly, to the time the swab was taken.

There has been very little serious research on PCR false positives, but it is clear to me that this could easily happen when the tests are not conducted as 'perfectly' as they are in a laboratory.  As has been shown many times, including recently Jon Rahm the Pro golfer, false positive PCR tests do occur in the real world. Would I organise and pay for an expensive annual holiday to Phuket with the risk that a false positive test conducted in a third world environment would put me/family into quarantine - NO.

 

[BK315]

So are we allowed to transit through different a different country to Phuket e.g Hong Kong to Singapore and transit to Phuket? 

[JamesE]

14 hours ago, Spinner said:

My wife who is Thai and is based in Hong Kong but has sold up and planned to join me at our home in Chalong . She has been refused a COE to join me in Phuket as part of the Ridiculous Sandbox .

Right now they're not issuing COEs based on the Sandbox to anyone. Once the rules are published in the Royal Gazette then the Sandbox will be officially open.

[AussieBob]

8 hours ago, Tjampman said:

Yes, as I understand it, transits should be OK for the Sandbox, as long as you don't exit the airport (eg. overnight) that you are transiting.

However they say you need to have stayed 21 days in the country you are departing from, how that will work for EU citizens who might go to an airport in another country I don't know.

My understanding is that as long as a person is in transit in another country they will not consider that to have been 'staying' in another country. But as we all know, local IOs in Thailand can come up with some weird 'interpretations', so I would recommend that no one stays a long time in transit on their way to Phuket and if possible they get something/document from that airport stating that they were in transit. 

[Stonker]

18 hours ago, Tjampman said:

19 hours ago, 321BOOM said:

No, I say 3 out of 10 PCR tests are false positive.

Apologies I did mean to write false positives back there.

However,  that is simply not true.

Agreed 100%, @Tjampman.  It's completely untrue and there's no peer reviewed evidence to support it at all - just oft repeated totally unsupported claims like this one.

 

15 hours ago, AussieBob said:

As has been shown many times, including recently Jon Rahm the Pro golfer, false positive PCR tests do occur in the real world

Sorry, @AussieBob, but it simply hasn't been "shown many times".  Despite the many claims, no recognised and peer reviewed studies have shown this.

 

As for Jon Rahm, there's been no evidence at all that it was a false positive and according to the Golf Channel (5 June) the same sample was re-tested and the re-test was also positive, making a false positive even more unlikely.

[AussieBob]

3 hours ago, Stonker said:

Agreed 100%, @Tjampman.  It's completely untrue and there's no peer reviewed evidence to support it at all - just oft repeated totally unsupported claims like this one.

Sorry, @AussieBob, but it simply hasn't been "shown many times".  Despite the many claims, no recognised and peer reviewed studies have shown this.

As for Jon Rahm, there's been no evidence at all that it was a false positive and according to the Golf Channel (5 June) the same sample was re-tested and the re-test was also positive, making a false positive even more unlikely.

You got that wrong Stonker.  Firstly, John Rahm is tested every day, as are all Pros inside the 'playing bubble'. The day before he tested negative, and the day before that. It was the same test that was positive - they did not do a re-test - he was playing on the golf course. When he was next tested he was negative and another test he was negative and he was negative and another test and he was negative. Then he played in the US Open and won - and tested negative every day. It was a false positive Stonker.

Secondly, all you have to do is Google "false pcr positive tests" and there are lots of examples and clinical reports to look at from reputable sources.  But the reality is that they are not all that concerned about false positives, what they are extremely concerned about is false negatives - and lest face it that is the far more worrying outcome of a pcr test.  As you may know there was an airline stewardess in Aust who tested negative 3 times - while into, and in, and leaving, quarantine over a period of 14 days. She subsequently infected others when she travelled around doing shopping eating etc - but then she tested positive when doing the required test before her next flight.   That is their focus - trying to figure out how and why she tested negative so many times. People can catch C19 and still test negative for a while - some a short period and some for a long period - they do not know why. This is probably the best case study which was done on SARS Cov-2 which is as you know another form of Covid Virus and it shows that false positives do occur in PCR Tests. - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7934325/  There are many others.

My concern is that the testing in Thailand will not be any better than what happened to John Rahm and therefore the risk of being 'quarantined' after having paid for a holiday is not worth the risk - that is all I am saying.  When they let me arrive with certificate/evidence of a vaccination and a negative PCR test done within 72 hours, and I am then OK to freely travel around (no testing), I will look at when we next visit. Happy to comply with masks and social distancing and we dont do clubs/bars anyway. But I will not accept being tested and quarantined based on any tests (and at my expense).  If I get sick and am positive for C19 and need treatment - then that is what the Covid/Travel insurance is for.  

Edited June 25, 2021 by King Cotton
Deletion of meaningless text-talk IMO, as per Guideline 15

[bushav8r]

On 6/24/2021 at 1:35 AM, King Cotton said:

Sorry, Spinner, but you know what my one-word answer to that question would be. The entire sandbox fiasco is now getting even sillier than its name. Who the hell thought-up 'Sandbox', for Christ's sake?

Hello, Spinner and welcome to Thaiger Talk

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

King Cotton

Someone used the term "Sandtrap" earlier,  I think this is much more suitable.

[MrStretch]

On 6/24/2021 at 5:17 AM, russelwilliams1 said:

You have not stated who pays for the tests? Do we pay or the Thai government? If we pay then how much is each test?

Regards 

Russel Williams 

The Thai government is not going to pay for these tests, it will be on the tourist.

[dimitri]

On 6/23/2021 at 6:10 PM, Vwwv said:

5 tests? What do those cost in phuket? Could see one maybe 2 but 5.

 

 

The cheapest I could find in BKK was 3000 Baht. But some places also charged 5000 Baht.

 

 

The costs of 5 tests is about the same as a budget holiday including flights to Spain for European citizens.

 

 

And what does Phuket has to offer if bars are closed and you are not even allowed to leave the island for a diving trip?

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by dimitri