News Forum - Phuket governor reverses decision easing mask-wearing

[Highlandman]

On 6/3/2022 at 5:57 PM, Pinetree said:

Tell that to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore,  who will retain masks indefinitely. It is far from inevitable that masks here will be optional any time soon.  

Thailand will also retain mask wearing indefinitely.

Singapore has scrapped outdoor mandates, so it stands to reason that one day they will scrap indoor masking too, even if not anytime soon.

Taiwan and Hong Kong? Similar to Thailand.

[Highlandman]

On 6/3/2022 at 5:30 PM, Guest1 said:

So, now it is  back to green and blue provinces will go mask free in the middle of this month?

They could have declared Phuket a "test-province", instead.

NO. I don't think so. The earliest there might be a slight easing will be July but ONLY in parks and beaches and only if Thais don't melt down at this suggestion (which they probably will). They're going to drag this out for as long as possible.

I have zero expectations for an easing this month - the PM already shot down this suggestion a couple of days ago. There won't be any changes mid-June.

[Highlandman]

On 6/3/2022 at 5:08 PM, Chatogaster said:

Makes sense.

If by law there's a nation-wide rule in place, a province doesn't have the authority to cancel it locally. At best, it can formally state it follows a condoning policy. However, saying that out loud could higher up be interpreted as criticism and then be reacted to with expressions as as "superseding authority", "setting a bad example", "causing divisiveness", "undermining national interests", etc. That's bound to make one's job security wobble.

The sad thing about this political blunder is that Phuket may now feel it needs to prove its loyalty by making a few token surveillances and perhaps even hand out fines while this thing blows over.

Why not? In federal jurisdictions, each state or province makes their own decisions. That's why in Australia, there were times when one state imposed a mask mandate but the state next door did not. The same can be said about the USA and Canada.

I realize Thailand isn't ruled that way, but I also fail to understand the purpose of all these provinces, if they have zero autonomy in their decision making. They might as well dissolve the provinces and make Thailand like New Zealand, which has no provinces or states.

[Highlandman]

On 6/3/2022 at 6:10 PM, Poolie said:

Key thing is ,in Hong Kong at least, everybody, as far as I know, doesn't really care. They just accept it for what it is. They dont have whining tourists see?

Same thing in Thailand. They love wearing their muzzles here. In fact, Thailand is worse than Hong Kong because at least they don't wear masks in the TV studio there. Thailand is the only country in the world where newscasters wear masks while reading the news even if completely alone.

Edited June 4, 2022 by Highlandman

[Highlandman]

On 6/3/2022 at 6:22 PM, Pinetree said:

Go nd see for yourself in Singapore.  The wearing of masks is almost 100%. 

That may be but the outdoor mandate has been relaxed and also in offices as well. I don't think Singaporeans are wearing masks in their offices unless required to (mainly for those working in public - office workers no longer need to wear masks if they can maintain social distancing).

I'm sure like the previous poster said, within the next 2-3 months, Singapore will gradually relax the remaining mask rules.

[Highlandman]

On 6/3/2022 at 6:12 PM, rc1 said:

Singapore doesn't require masks outdoors or in offices and will relax the rest this year. 

The other two, I won't comment on. 

Probably similar for the other two, just that it will occur later (but very likely within this year as well).

About a month or two ago, I was reading the Taiwan news and it said they won't consider easing the mask rules before July. At the time, they very slightly tweaked them to allow people to remove their masks to take photographs and if out alone in the wilderness or somewhere outdoors far away from other people, but otherwise it's a strict indoor and outdoor mandate everywhere in public. Given how crowded Taiwan is, unless you're in some national park or on a beach or so, you'll find that you'll need to be masked.

That being said, Taiwan's Covid case numbers have peaked and are now starting to stabilize and will soon decline. As a result, they're easing some restrictions including reducing the quarantine on inbound arrivals.

I believe Taiwan will probably slightly adjust the outdoor mask rules next month (perhaps allowing people to be mask free in parks, beaches and such places) and by August the outdoor mandate could be scrapped altogether. It will then take another 2-3 months for the indoor ones to go too.

In Hong Kong, it will take a little longer - perhaps an easing of the outdoor mandate by August-September with the remainder scrapped sometime before the end of the year.

Singapore will probably scrap all indoor mask mandates within the next 3 months at the latest. However, it is probable that they will retain the vaccine mandate to access public areas for some time to come.

Finally you have the Philippines - they're as reluctant to scrap mask mandates as Thailand is. Previously there was even a mask + shield mandate. The shield was only scrapped about 2 or 3 months ago. Shields used to be required, in addition to masks, on public transit, malls, markets and such settings.

[Viggen8408]

On 6/3/2022 at 2:06 PM, ThaiEyes said:

“No reason was given for the sudden reversal”

The public deserves a public reason 

Isn't this the second time this has happened?

[Viggen8408]

"Good evening, Governor, 'the General' here... what are you doing making decisions? I make the decisions and then you pretend you made them. Is that clear?"

Edited June 9, 2022 by Viggen8408
Oops

[DiJoDavO]

Hey, look what Anutin said:

He said it was not necessary for the ministry to declare when people can go out without wearing a face mask. He would rather leave that up to individuals to decide at their own discretion.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2322570/anutin-time-to-move-on-declare-covid-19-endemic

[rc1]

10 minutes ago, DiJoDavO said:

Hey, look what Anutin said:

He said it was not necessary for the ministry to declare when people can go out without wearing a face mask. He would rather leave that up to individuals to decide at their own discretion.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2322570/anutin-time-to-move-on-declare-covid-19-endemic

So does that mean the mandate ends now? 

[DiJoDavO]

12 minutes ago, rc1 said:

So does that mean the mandate ends now? 

I guess???? 

[Viggen840]

On 6/4/2022 at 7:11 PM, Highlandman said:

Same thing in Thailand. They love wearing their muzzles here. In fact, Thailand is worse than Hong Kong because at least they don't wear masks in the TV studio there. Thailand is the only country in the world where newscasters wear masks while reading the news even if completely alone.

So bloody annoying, and purely virtue signalling. No one in proximity and they still wear the muzzle

[Smithydog]

36 minutes ago, Viggen840 said:

So bloody annoying, and purely virtue signalling. No one in proximity and they still wear the muzzle

Do you have any evidence that they personally don't believe in wearing masks? After all, that would be a critical component in determining if they are indeed "virtue signalling" or not.

The overuse of the term tells us far more about the people using the term than those that they accuse. After all, the accused are not usually here to defend themselves yet others can easily cast unproven aspersions at them.

Has the Phuket Governor ordered them to do it and are they even located on Phuket? Seems a lot of unknown factors for bold statements.

[Viggen840]

6 minutes ago, Smithydog said:

Do you have any evidence that they personally don't believe in wearing masks? After all, that would be a critical component in determining if they are indeed "virtue signalling" or not.

The overuse of the term tells us far more about the people using the term than those that they accuse. After all, the accused are not usually here to defend themselves yet others can easily cast unproven aspersions at them.

Has the Phuket Governor ordered them to do it and are they even located on Phuket? Seems a lot of unknown factors for bold statements.

Before this 'plandemic' people in both Bangkok and the provinces were quite happy to NOT wear masks unless in close proximity to others - public transport for one. Go into hotels to register and no one wore masks. Go to restaurants and no staff wore masks. Television presenters didn't wear masks and nothing has changed. The only exception to this seemed to be police on traffic duty who were under the impression these flimsy things would filter out the smog created by vehicles.

The thing that has changed is the media, pretty much worldwide, seems to be fuelling the need to wear the things.

[Smithydog]

4 minutes ago, Viggen840 said:

Before this 'plandemic' people in both Bangkok and the provinces were quite happy to NOT wear masks unless in close proximity to others - public transport for one. Go into hotels to register and no one wore masks. Go to restaurants and no staff wore masks. Television presenters didn't wear masks and nothing has changed. The only exception to this seemed to be police on traffic duty who were under the impression these flimsy things would filter out the smog created by vehicles.

The thing that has changed is the media, pretty much worldwide, seems to be fuelling the need to wear the things.

Thanks for that, but actually has little association to what I asked. Even still, a far better comment, thank you.

But you chose to label the people but can't seem to prove they individually are against it, which is what I pointed out.

As such it is not appropriate to make such claims and why it falls into overuse. Better to save up to use when you have actual proof rather than as a general label that happens too often.