News Forum - To wear or not to wear a face mask (in Thailand) – that is the question – OPINION

[Scarface]

3 minutes ago, Transam said:

Aaaaaah, post counts, the other place, those ol' chestnut's.

So why do those couple of spouts make you think I live in a bedsit..Go for it, I am waiting....

Oh ok, so you spend all day arguing with strangers online in your mansion. Better?

[Rookiescot]

2 minutes ago, Highlandman said:

What excuses me from wearing a mask is the fact it's voluntary.

Do you have comprehension difficulties? Or are you just wanting to start an argument?

Because it is still recommended in high density areas.

[think-and-ask]

19 hours ago, Benroon said:

Science ? Ok give us a few links where scientists, actually no, even better virologists state they don't work....or is this expat forum science ?

top virologist, in germany, named drosten,
said on t.v. , before corona started, mask not help well.

you not have to support a view on, tel e vision or govern-ment.

[think-and-ask]

talk about, what keeps people healthy, what is mind-set, helps,
not about wearing mask. and so some people also mention vaccines.

so some people, still believe, vaccines help ? but many doctors, also from
national institutes, per country said long time ago, it not helps.

and most corrupted parts in life, as health product producers,
and governments with news, just have changed, completed ?

so if someone got sick, 1-2 times with flu or similar symptoms, one
believe, what those health care people, tell you what you got ?

and still have, millions of people, per country, who are older
not very healthy, and not got, at least serious sick, in past years.

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by think-and-ask

[dmacarelli]

 

No. Not outdoors. The new motto. "Come visit the land where there are masks as far as the eye can see". Even outdoors. Even on motorbikes! Masks, and more masks everywhere. A recipe for a great vacation. Masks and reduced nightlife. Come and have some fun! Thailand is unique. We are one of the few nations left that asks you to wear a mask everywhere you go. And though we already said masks would be scrapped, we got scared, and since we are neither courageous nor do we practice common sense, we will keep wearing them for a year or more. Even outdoors. Even on the beach. 

Hopefully, we will see alot of civil disobedience.

Defy oppression! Embrace science and common sense. We have been breathing in all kinds of bacterial stuff, for millenia. I will not allow covid to turn me into a timid man, afraid of people and disease. My immune system does all the work, and I do what I can to boost it and keep it strong. Finished wearing a mask outdoors, unless it is a crowded area. Period. 
 

Edited July 9, 2022 by dmacarelli

[Highlandman]

8 minutes ago, dmacarelli said:

No. Not outdoors. The new motto. "Come visit the land where there are masks as far as the eye can see". Even outdoors. Even on motorbikes! Masks, and more masks everywhere. A recipe for a great vacation. Masks and reduced nightlife. Come and have some fun! Thailand is unique. We are one of the few nations left that asks you to wear a mask everywhere you go. And though we already said masks would be scrapped, we got scared, and since we are neither courageous nor do we practice common sense, we will keep wearing them for a year or more. Even outdoors. Even on the beach. 

Hopefully, we will see alot of civil disobedience.

Defy oppression! Embrace science and common sense. We have been breathing in all kinds of bacterial stuff, for millenia. I will not allow covid to turn me into a timid man, afraid of people and disease. My immune system does all the work, and I do what I can to boost it and keep it strong. Finished wearing a mask outdoors, unless it is a crowded area. Period. 
 

Well said. However, mandatory masks haven't returned, it's just that most people never took them off.

It is disturbing to me though that while Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam continue to have an "everywhere in public" mask mandate, it's simply not complied with yet in Thailand, even without a mandate, it remains the "land of masks".

 

[Scarface]

10 minutes ago, dmacarelli said:

No. Not outdoors. The new motto. "Come visit the land where there are masks as far as the eye can see". Even outdoors. Even on motorbikes! Masks, and more masks everywhere. A recipe for a great vacation. Masks and reduced nightlife. Come and have some fun! Thailand is unique. We are one of the few nations left that asks you to wear a mask everywhere you go. And though we already said masks would be scrapped, we got scared, and since we are neither courageous nor do we practice common sense, we will keep wearing them for a year or more. Even outdoors. Even on the beach. 

Hopefully, we will see alot of civil disobedience.

Defy oppression! Embrace science and common sense. We have been breathing in all kinds of bacterial stuff, for millenia. I will not allow covid to turn me into a timid man, afraid of people and disease. My immune system does all the work, and I do what I can to boost it and keep it strong. Finished wearing a mask outdoors, unless it is a crowded area. Period. 
 

Yep, it's like a scene in a zombie movie walking around in this country. Completely surreal. No one has their own mind, it's getting like North Korea now. Why a single tourist would want to come here totally fails me, even booze and ladies of the night are expensive now, and that was the only reason to come for many.

[Highlandman]

34 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

I imagine the Thais will take them off when it is recommended they do so.

The issue is that everyone else does not have the luxury of not caring if you dont wear a mask. You run the increased risk of infecting others by not wearing one.

There will never be a recommendation to take the masks off. The government has already stated this. Being "voluntary" is sufficient, which is the case now. Also, a government like this one would lose a ton of face if they ever made such a statement.

Mask wearing will slowly reduce when Thais see others around them not wearing a mask. In downtown Bangkok, this is slowly happening, but not much in the suburbs or most Thai areas of the country. It will be like the second half of 2020 - when case numbers are low and there's less fear mongering in the media, you'll have more people taking them off and this will lead others to take them off and so forth.

The last ones left wearing them will be the upper middle class people who've had 4 or 5 Covid shots.

[Highlandman]

44 minutes ago, Transam said:

Sheep, perhaps it is you who baaaaaaaah's, some of us have gray cells to make our own decisions on remaining healthy, not like some who probably will lose their Rambo image entering their bar and friends think they are a big girls blouse wearing a mask...

You are definitely a bah bah black sheep. I remain healthy by not wearing a filthy face mask. If you feel safe or "healthy" wearing one, fine. I am not here to judge, like most angry pro-maskers are. I would prefer it if people didn't wear masks, or as few people as possible were wearing them (especially outdoors, where it makes no sense whatsoever) but I can't control what people do, nor do I want to. People can decide for themselves what to do. That's what is called being a responsible adult.

However, I believe that masks should never be worn in general, only for specific purposes (such as dust protection when using power tools to cut something or as a dentist working on a patient, something like that) and then for as little time as necessary to achieve the task at hand.

They should never have been forced on the healthy public and certainly never outside of a "lockdown" period. The idea behind imposing them during a lockdown is that the public is supposed to stay home but if allowed to go out to do essential business such as shopping, they wear a mask the implication being it's "dangerous out there and a mask protects you from this danger lurking in the air". However, when there is no longer a lockdown this is not warranted anymore as the danger has supposedly disappeared.

I think China got it right by not enforcing them in areas that aren't under lockdown.

Thailand decided to elevate mask wearing to almost religious status. They've gone further than the Japanese even - in Japan, masks are never worn on TV or when someone makes a speech. Locals are swimming at the beach wearing a mask. I mean this is absurd and makes you question whether they have any logic at all. 

People are wearing them at home, which I just saw with my own eyes when a neighbor across the road emerged from his house wearing a mask.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Highlandman

[Highlandman]

13 minutes ago, Scarface said:

Yep, it's like a scene in a zombie movie walking around in this country. Completely surreal. No one has their own mind, it's getting like North Korea now. Why a single tourist would want to come here totally fails me, even booze and ladies of the night are expensive now, and that was the only reason to come for many.

Exactly. Coming on holidays/vacation is supposed to be about relaxation, not worrying about whether you have to wear a mask in this setting or that setting. It's not supposed to be a boot camp.

Based on some of the comments in this forum, it feels even worse because you have local expats who are taking this so seriously, if not more seriously than the locals are to the point it's like a religion to them.

If tourists knew this, they'd be reluctant to come as no one wants to come to a country where everyone is on edge and a simple tourist who minds their own business, is spending money and wants to enjoy themselves is viewed with suspicion, when 3 years ago, this same individual, acting in the exact same manner, would have been both welcomed and embraced.

I think even North Korea isn't this bad. Sure, they're comformist, but from the footage I've seen (pre-Covid days) it looks OK.

Thailand seems way more tense than that, though it is getting better but only in recent weeks and months. For a long while, it was really bad.

However, I am now sticking to tourist areas more than I've ever done before, mainly because attitudes in these areas are more relaxed, with Thais used to seeing maskless foreigners over the past month or two, and they themselves ever so slowly removing them too, even if hardly anyone else is, in the rest of the country.

The presence of other foreigners around me, even if they're from different regions of the world (such as India and the Middle East) makes me feel more comfortable. It's a sigh of fresh air because it means things are improving and since most of them don't wear masks, it makes things start to feel more normal again.

[TheDirtyDurian]

2 hours ago, Chaimai said:

You will be in for a surprise.

Don't think so. That's exactly what happened on Flight GF153 two months ago. Why would this time be any different?

[Smithydog]

1 hour ago, think-and-ask said:

top virologist, in germany, named drosten,
said on t.v. , before corona started, mask not help well.

you not have to support a view on, tel e vision or govern-ment.

You obviously haven't read one of the more recent interviews with Professor Drosten in which he states the following opinion.

Drosten: Wearing masks indoors is the least painful, and the more people you have together and the longer, the more important that becomes.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-virologist-christian-drosten-on-the-battle-against-covid-in-the-worst-case-it-could-take-a-few-more-winters-a-04e022dd-fc78-4917-8083-873d13359bd4

[Faraday]

A number of Off Topic, irrelevant & snitty comments have been removed.

Moderator 

[TheDirtyDurian]

In Isaan for a few days. Was in town earlier buying a washing machine for MIL, coz I'm a nice guy, and rich long nose.

Apart from the woman who took my payment, and a Japanese backpacker!(weird), I was the only unmasked walking around. 

Didn't get any dirty looks, or exclamations of fear, but I am ex special forces so I'm well hard and a hard stare from me soon sorts them out. 

It's strange out there. 

15 people masked up on the back of a pick-up makes me laugh, as do the helmetless on motorbikes..., 

It's very strange for me. I'm based in Saudi and when the government said you don't have to wear masks anymore, literally overnight everyone stopped doing it. 

I find it odd, that Thais, who aren't exactly known for following the rules are so brainwashed over this. They're normally quite rebellious. As the saying goes,"A true Thai walks their own way..."

My wife will be traveling with me. She's actually looking forward to ditching it as soon as we take off from Soyouwannaboomboom.

[TheDirtyDurian]

3 minutes ago, Transam said:

Your tattoo's probably told all....

"15 people masked up in the back of a pickup".....Well, seeing as the 15 would be sitting nose to nose, the wearing of a mask seems sensible...

Thai folk have learned that C19 has killed zillions of people in FARANGLAND, so they wear a mask for their own safety as many hi-so, I am special farangs from the killing grounds walk around with no masks..

The point about the pick-up was that 15 people sitting like that isn't safe if there's an accident, so they're not worried about their safety there, but they all wear a mask, it's one of those Thai idiosyncratic things that us unmasked find amusing. 

Ditto kids helmetless on motorbikes masked up.

Ditto people inside a car driving like idiots masked up. 

Amazing Thailand indeed. 

If Thais are so concerned about their safety, why is it just the masks, why not everything. 

That's why I find the whole thing so odd.