6 “Phuket Sandbox” travellers have tested positive for Covid-19 since July 1 reopening

[Thaiger]

So far, 6 people who entered Phuket under the “Sandbox” reopening scheme have tested positive for Covid-19. Those in close contact need to quarantine for 14 days. The reopening scheme allows travellers who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, as well as their children, to enter the island province without undergoing quarantine. Nearly 4,000 tourists entered Phuket from July 1 to 10, according to the Bangkok Post. The first case was detected last week. A man who travelled from the UAE tested positive for Covid-19 after his initial test upon entering Thailand under the Phuket Sandbox. The tour group the […]

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[Shark]

the end of the Sand Castle?

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

Can the Thaiger confirm how many Thai Sandbox workers are 14 day quarantined each time? Yes 6 people have covid, but how many people are quarantined, both home and ALQ? Even The number of close contact tourists are not well published (maybe hidden on page 9, before the funnies). I just don’t think the full news (hate to use the word story) is leaking out.

[Bobfran]

So if Phuket was Sydney Australia now the whole place would be locked down.    But I suppose we are talking about what place cares about their people and the other place that only cares about the money .

[KAP]

 

Before jumping on a plane with your family you should consider the below. Two youngish children in a

foreign country separated from their parents who remain quarantine, this is wrong in so many ways &

really not the best way to manage the situation. All four should have remained in their quarantine facility

(unless becoming unwell) okay with increased security if deemed appropriate saving I assume considerable

stress to the family and not wasting healthcare resources which is not in abundance.

 

2 children, who travelled from Myanmar with their families under the Sandbox model and were unvaccinated

due to their age, tested positive for Covid-19 in their second test, which was given a week after arrival. The children,

ages 8 and 9, were sent to the hospital while the families, who are fully vaccinated, were ordered to quarantine.

 

[JohninDublin]

7 minutes ago, AdvocatusDiaboli said:

Can the Thaiger confirm how many Thai Sandbox workers are 14 day quarantined each time? Yes 6 people have covid, but how many people are quarantined, both home and ALQ? Even The number of close contact tourists are not well published (maybe hidden on page 9, before the funnies). I just don’t think the full news (hate to use the word story) is leaking out.

That really is the problem. No disgrace to The Thaiger, but he is merely a news aggregator, rather than a journalist. This in turn means that details such as you or I would like to know are missing.

If we are lucky, we can sometimes put flesh on the bone, through the input of other members reading other versions of the story elsewhere, but then again, we have to worry about whether those reports are factual or interpretations.

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

29 minutes ago, JohninDubin said:

If we are lucky, we can sometimes put flesh on the bone, through the input of other members reading other versions of the story elsewhere, but then again, we have to worry about whether those reports are factual or interpretations.

Well said!

[ChristyS]

37 minutes ago, JohninDubin said:

That really is the problem. No disgrace to The Thaiger, but he is merely a news aggregator, rather than a journalist. This in turn means that details such as you or I would like to know are missing.

If we are lucky, we can sometimes put flesh on the bone, through the input of other members reading other versions of the story elsewhere, but then again, we have to worry about whether those reports are factual or interpretations.

Yes  thank you  Meanwhile  The Phuket News is doing some excellent detail work but even they are not getting the entire story- K Pracha of  the Phuke Must Win website told me on the phone  a week ago   Phuket was "out of vaccinations until 3rd or 4th week of July.."  while telling  TPN  that  health workers just needed a break and that's why no more registrations were being processed. 

Of note is Sandboxers testing positive AFTER entry, 6 days later are not being counted in Phuket Tallies 

Edited July 12, 2021 by ChristyS
clarify

[Stonker]

25 minutes ago, ChristyS said:

Sandboxers testing positive AFTER entry, 6 days later are not being counted in Phuket Tallies 

I'm far from sure they're being counted at all.

[JohninDublin]

1 hour ago, Thaiger said:

So far, 6 people who entered Phuket under the “Sandbox” reopening scheme have tested positive for Covid-19. Those in close contact need to quarantine for 14 days. The reopening scheme allows travellers who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, as well as their children, to enter the island province without undergoing quarantine. Nearly 4,000 tourists entered Phuket from July 1 to 10, according to the Bangkok Post. The first case was detected last week. A man who travelled from the UAE tested positive for Covid-19 after his initial test upon entering Thailand under the Phuket Sandbox. The tour group the […]

The post 6 “Phuket Sandbox” travellers have tested positive for Covid-19 since July 1 reopening appeared first on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

As AdvocatusDiaboli has implied,  there are huge gaps in this story. This in turn makes it difficult to give informed opinions on what I have read. 

Nevertheless, I shall try. These cases, three of which include juveniles bring that cohort to 5 out of about 20 new infections in the past three days. I am presuming 8 new cases overall yesterday to add to the 12 cases reported in the two days prior. We know that these three kids were not vaxxed. In both Ireland and the UK, the jury is out on vaxxing kids for a number of reasons, including questions over the safety of doing so, and the relative rarity of fatalities among this sector.

Regarding that last sentence, I was thinking about the Blood Clot element associated with AZ. It appears that these cases are only being experienced by the under-30's. So in response many stopped using AZ, and then most resumed with a 10 year margin, by only giving AZ to the over-40's. That seemed eminently sensible to me, It really doesn't make sense to me, that because you are one day past your 30th b/day you are out of the woods for that risk. But the current practice in most countries, is that the day of your 18th birthday, your risk has increased/declined dramatically from one day earlier. Did the virus know this when it landed on you? Hmmm?

But with an estimated 25% of all new cases in the past three days being in children, and 50% of the sandbox foreign infections also coming from this group, maybe the Sandbox rules need to be modified to over-18's only.

Turning to the case from Africa, I don't think it would be a highly flawed presumption to guess that Sinovax is a likely culprit. We know that against the original strains, Sino had an efficacy rate of 50-55%. We also know the passenger from the Emirates flight had used Sino. Maybe another Sandbox modification should be not to accept Sino as an effective vax.

Nothing is known about the two people who made the land crossing so I won't comment on that.

Finally, back to the Burmese kids, these were initially missed at the arrival PCR test. I would presume because there were two of them together, the likely explanation for this is low viral load as opposed to test failures. If that's correct, then it occurs to me that the people from the Emirates flight who were shanghaied into ALQ hotels, could have been cleared, or confirmed by now, and that's a very good reason why the 14 day quarantine seems excessive. I understand that including locals who were in contact with this group after arrival, the initial quarantine, that the total round up for the ALQ hotel was 23. It appears that none of those who were on the same as these kids have been rounded up, though they should be in the same risk group as the Emirates passengers of needing observation for 14 days. During the meantime, these kids have been at large for a week. You have to wonder how many locals they have come into contact with in that time?

[hydraides]

1 hour ago, Bobfran said:

So if Phuket was Sydney Australia now the whole place would be locked down.    But I suppose we are talking about what place cares about their people and the other place that only cares about the money .

Dumbest commet I have ever seen, Cov-id 19 is  not going away. 75% of Phuket is suppoesdly vaccinated from serious illness/ death. 

If not open Phuket now, then when? Never.......because Cov-id is not disappearing - ever. 

0 Cov-id policy is so stupid, lockdowns do much more damage 

[Stonker]

2 hours ago, Thaiger said:

6 people  ...... Nearly 4,000 tourists entered Phuket from July 1 to 10, according to the Bangkok Post

So 6 out of nearly 4,000 over ten days.

 

That doesn't sound much.

 

But compare that 4,000 to the population of Phuket and that's the equivalent of 900 new cases every ten days or 90 every day.

 

Compare it to the population of Thailand and that's the equivalent of 100,000 new cases every ten days or 10,000 every day.

 

I'm not blaming tourists for bringing in and spreading  Covid-19, but why in the name of all that's holy would any country want to allow in tourists, whether they've been vaccinated or not, when their infection rate is higher than the country's?

[Martin]

It's quite difficult to comment when you don't know the full facts and when it seems clear Phuket authorities are trying their best to keep "official" covid figures low by not counting various categories in their daily totals. Todays provincial totals show Phuket at 2 when the real figure would seem to be at least double or treble that. Would it not be better to report the actual figure of covid positives and if needed then give a breakdown. 

Anyway, all things considered, you would have to be certifiably insane to go to Phuket for a holiday at this time. I can understand people going for business or family reasons, or if planning to stay in Thailand for an extended period. But a holiday? And putting your children at risk too?

[Stonker]

8 minutes ago, hydraides said:

Dumbest commet I have ever seen, Cov-id 19 is  not going away. 75% of Phuket is suppoesdly vaccinated from serious illness/ death. 

Now that's the dumbest comment I've ever seen!

 

Well ..... nearly .....

[hydraides]

4 minutes ago, Stonker said:

Now that's the dumbest comment I've ever seen!

Well ..... nearly .....

You say Australia cares about their people yet Thailand only cares about the money

But Both of those things are completely interchangeable. People need money to survive and feed themselves.

The main reason Thailand reopened Phuket was for the Thai's living here who have been thrown into poverty

 

[Stonker]

31 minutes ago, JohninDubin said:

I understand that including locals who were in contact with this group after arrival, the initial quarantine, that the total round up for the ALQ hotel was 23. It appears that none of those who were on the same as these kids have been rounded up, though they should be in the same risk group as the Emirates passengers of needing observation for 14 days. During the meantime, these kids have been at large for a week. You have to wonder how many locals they have come into contact with in that time?

There doesn't seem to be any logic at all to who goes into ALQ, even Thai logic.

 

I'm guessing that the "nearby passengers" were put into ALQ even though they tested negative on the basis that if they'd come in outside the sandbox they'd have been quarantined anyway.

 

That was probably then extended to the seven hotel staff because not to do so could have been seen as "one rule for foreign arrivals and another rule for Thais".

 

The problem is where do you stop, since everyone else just quarantines at home.

 

Say you've got two tables in Starbucks, each with one person who tests positive, one table full of sandboxers and the other full of locals.

 

Thais or farangs on either table, doesn't matter.

 

On the first table, the sandboxer who tests positive would go into a private hospital, paid for by their insurance, and the others would go into ASQ for 50,000 baht each for the hotel, paid for by themselves.

 

On the other table, the local who tests positive would go into a state hospital or field hospital for free (as long as there were any beds), and the others would self-quarantine at home for free.

 

The waiter who served the sandbox table would apparently go into ASQ if he tested negative, at a cost to the government of 50,000 baht for the hotel, but into a state hospital or field hospital, for free, if he tested positive (if there were any beds).

 

The waiter who served the other table would go into self-quarantine at home if he tested negative, but into a state hospital or field hospital, for free, if he tested positive (if there were any beds).

 

No consistency, just complete and utter insanity and confusion

[JohninDublin]

12 minutes ago, Stonker said:

There doesn't seem to be any logic at all to who goes into ALQ, even Thai logic.

I'm guessing that the "nearby passengers" were put into ALQ even though they tested negative on the basis that if they'd come in outside the sandbox they'd have been quarantined anyway.

That was probably then extended to the seven hotel staff because not to do so could have been seen as "one rule for foreign arrivals and another rule for Thais".

The problem is where do you stop, since everyone else just quarantines at home.

Say you've got two tables in Starbucks, each with one person who tests positive, one table full of sandboxers and the other full of locals.

Thais or farangs on either table, doesn't matter.

On the first table, the sandboxer who tests positive would go into a private hospital, paid for by their insurance, and the others would go into ASQ for 50,000 baht each for the hotel, paid for by themselves.

On the other table, the local who tests positive would go into a state hospital or field hospital for free (as long as there were any beds), and the others would self-quarantine at home for free.

The waiter who served the sandbox table would apparently go into ASQ if he tested negative, at a cost to the government of 50,000 baht for the hotel, but into a state hospital or field hospital, for free, if he tested positive (if there were any beds).

The waiter who served the other table would go into self-quarantine at home if he tested negative, but into a state hospital or field hospital, for free, if he tested positive (if there were any beds).

No consistency, just complete and utter insanity and confusion

I believe that the locals who were quarantined were mainly drivers. Regardless, it does look like there is a persistent lack of joined-up thinking

[Stonker]

27 minutes ago, hydraides said:

You say Australia cares about their people yet Thailand only cares about the money

Ummm ..... sorry, but 'no', I didn't   -   although I do agree with @Bobfran's comment.

 

30 minutes ago, hydraides said:

The main reason Thailand reopened Phuket was for the Thai's living here who have been thrown into poverty

Was it?

 

What about the other 95% of the population who don't live on Phuket, where as a result most of those over 60 and who are vulnerable to Covid are still waiting for a vaccine, however useless it is, because their vaccines have been given to hotel and bar staff instead who don't need them?

 

Or was it simply because a group of influential hotel owners, led by foreigners, who don't give a stuff about Thais, their employees, or anything apart from their own interests, kept complaining until they got what they wanted - or, more realistically, got a bad solution that suited nobody?

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

12 minutes ago, Stonker said:

No consistency, just complete and utter insanity and confusion

Ahhh Whatever will be, will be ……. Now where have I heard that before, oh the film “The Man Who Knew Too Much” Que Sera Sera. 

[Stonker]

1 minute ago, JohninDubin said:

I believe that the locals who were quarantined were mainly drivers. Regardless, it does look like there is a persistent lack of joined-up thinking

OK, so change my analogy from Starbucks, tables and waiters to minibuses and drivers:

Say you've got two minibuses from the same hotel, each with one person who tests positive, one minibus full of sandboxers and the other full of locals.

 

Thais or farangs in either minibus, doesn't matter.

In the first minibus, the sandboxer who tests positive would go into a private hospital, paid for by their insurance, and the others would go into ASQ for 50,000 baht each for the hotel, paid for by themselves.

In the other minibus, the local who tests positive would go into a state hospital or field hospital for free (as long as there were any beds), and the others would self-quarantine at home for free.

The driver of the sandbox minibus would apparently go into ASQ if he tested negative, at a cost to the government of 50,000 baht for the hotel, but into a state hospital or field hospital, for free, if he tested positive (if there were any beds).

The driver of the other minibus would go into self-quarantine at home if he tested negative, but into a state hospital or field hospital, for free, if he tested positive (if there were any beds).

Still no consistency, just complete and utter insanity and confusion!

 

[Jason]

It sounds to me, like the criteria for entry will need to be refined further. Children can't be vaccinated but can contract and spread the virus. Realistically, children shouldn't be a part of those permitted to enter. I wonder why parents with children would risk it (unless they were expats coming home). This is example of the risk that parents take when bringing their children into what is, in reality, an experiment toopen up to tourism. I can only hope that it doesn't scuttle Phuket's chances of re-igniting tourism.

[JohninDublin]

33 minutes ago, Stonker said:

OK, so change my analogy from Starbucks, tables and waiters to minibuses and drivers:

Say you've got two minibuses from the same hotel, each with one person who tests positive, one minibus full of sandboxers and the other full of locals.

Thais or farangs in either minibus, doesn't matter.

In the first minibus, the sandboxer who tests positive would go into a private hospital, paid for by their insurance, and the others would go into ASQ for 50,000 baht each for the hotel, paid for by themselves.

In the other minibus, the local who tests positive would go into a state hospital or field hospital for free (as long as there were any beds), and the others would self-quarantine at home for free.

The driver of the sandbox minibus would apparently go into ASQ if he tested negative, at a cost to the government of 50,000 baht for the hotel, but into a state hospital or field hospital, for free, if he tested positive (if there were any beds).

The driver of the other minibus would go into self-quarantine at home if he tested negative, but into a state hospital or field hospital, for free, if he tested positive (if there were any beds).

Still no consistency, just complete and utter insanity and confusion!

For the avoidance of doubt, I was not disagreeing with your post. I think my last sentence displayed my agreement with you. The only reason I pointed it out to give some idea how wide they cast the net when trying to fill ASQ hotels. I am still at a loss to understand how the interned Thai contacts will be able to afford the SQ bill as well as taking two weeks of work.

[Oliverroysparks]

Why When for Medical Reasons SHA People have to to go to ASQ in Phuket Does their Insurance Not Cover the Cost of the New Type of Accommodation 

[ExpatPattaya]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

It sounds to me, like the criteria for entry will need to be refined further. Children can't be vaccinated but can contract and spread the virus.

The point is - if all people travelling to Phuket are vaccinated, if they do get Covid , they will have more than a 95% chance of not needing hospitalization ...

We will never have a Covid free state, Quarantine is unnecessary if you are vaccinated and contact the Covid Virus. 

You cannot "open" anywhere in the world without expecting some people getting Covid.   Many States in the USA are fully open and many people are getting Covid, but only those who are unvaccinated are dying or being sent to a hospital from what I have read.  

This is the New Normal.  There will NEVER BE a time when Covid is gone.  Just like the Avian and Swine Flu's we get every year, Covid will continue, it just will not be deadly if you are vaccinated.

 If I am wrong please educate me

 

[Stonker]

3 hours ago, JohninDubin said:

 I am still at a loss to understand how the interned Thai contacts will be able to afford the SQ bill as well as taking two weeks of work.

We're in heated agreement!

 

The Thai contacts aren't paying the SQ bill.  It's not spelt out anywhere as far as I know, but if they were it'd be all over Thai social media and there's not even a hint of that.