Infections in the sandbox not surprising, says PPHO Chief

[Thaiger]

The infected cases among Phuket Sandbox tourists were expected under the plan made before opening the island Phuket Provincial Public Health Office Chief Dr Kusak Kukiattikoon announced at a press conference yesterday that Covid infected tourists popping up in the sandbox were “expected”. Dr Kusak assured the public, and tourists mulling where to go on vacation, that zero of the high-risk contacts linked with the Covid infected tourists have tested positive. Like the mayor in Jaws, Dr Kusak believes the plan should keep going full steam ahead, regardless of hiccups like infected people cropping up like mould in a bathroom or […]

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[Graham]

Anyone "mulling" has to remember and be very aware of the risk of being detained / quarantined through no fault of their own at an ASQ extortionate hotel for the extra 15 nights at their cost even if they test negative.

[TobyAndrews]

"Like the Major in Jaws - full speed ahead.! I compare this fiasco to the Charge of the light brigade.

[AlexPTY]

2 minutes ago, TobyAndrews said:

"Like the Major in Jaws - full speed ahead.! I compare this fiasco to the Charge of the light brigade.

they need a bigger sandbox now!

[HolyCowCm]

Quote: Like the mayor in Jaws, Dr Kusak believes the plan should keep going full steam ahead, regardless of hiccups…

More like the Gremlins in Gremlin and trying to keep them out of contact with water.

[Dragan]

4 tests for tourists from low-risk countries and one test for Thai tourists from the dark red province and what will happen whit potentially infected domestic tourists in the sandbox?

[gummy]

2 hours ago, Thaiger said:

The infected cases among Phuket Sandbox tourists were expected under the plan made before opening the island Phuket Provincial Public Health Office Chief Dr Kusak Kukiattikoon announced at a press conference yesterday that Covid infected tourists popping up in the sandbox were “expected”. Dr Kusak assured the public, and tourists mulling where to go on vacation, that zero of the high-risk contacts linked with the Covid infected tourists have tested positive. Like the mayor in Jaws, Dr Kusak believes the plan should keep going full steam ahead, regardless of hiccups like infected people cropping up like mould in a bathroom or […]

The post Infections in the sandbox not surprising, says PPHO Chief appeared first on Thaiger News.

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So they expected these cases were going to happen so hence surely anticipated that perhaps children would become infected and thus be separated from their parents whilst quarantined and yet still attempted to advertise to the world that they welcomed families back ? Shades of certain 1930's German philosophy there then if that is the case.

[Jason]

Time will tell, but there's no way I would have brought my kids into such a situation. Firstly, children can contract and spread the virus but can't be vaccinated. I think a restriction to only adults would have been wise. The separation of children and their parents is proof positive that it never should have been permitted. Maybe it will serve to change the criteria for entry. 

[Stonker]

It rather begs the question that if the level of infections were " expected" then why in God's name did they do it?

 

They've set a ceiling of 90 infections a week for Phuket  - God knows why, but they have.

 

In comparative terms, 6 infections out of 4,000 arrivals over ten days equates in Phuket terms to 90 infections PER DAY!

 

... and they "expected" that?

 

... rather like Captain Edward Smith expected to see a bit of ice in the North Atlantic ...

[Soidog]

25 minutes ago, Jason said:

Time will tell, but there's no way I would have brought my kids into such a situation. Firstly, children can contract and spread the virus but can't be vaccinated. I think a restriction to only adults would have been wise. The separation of children and their parents is proof positive that it never should have been permitted. Maybe it will serve to change the criteria for entry. 

Agreed. However, I remain to be amazed if any real genuine tourists have come,  let alone come with children. I’m looking to return to Thailand as soon as it is reasonable to do so. I have good reasons to return and certainly not for a holiday. Over the past year I have kept a very close eye on the various visa rules. ASQ plans. COE etc etc. I was amazed to see people actually arriving on flight on July 1st as it wasn’t even mentioned on my local Thai Embassy website until the night before. Why would anyone want to go to Phuket or Samui as a genuine tourist looking to relax and have some fun? The place is deserted and you are running a real risk of being impounded in hospital or some other form of quarantine.  It would be great to see how numbers breakdown in to the following categories:

Expats returning

People with business interests

People who are following up on nightly chats with someone on Thai love links 

Criminals looking to escape their own country.
and finally

Genuine tourists looking to visit Thailand and enjoy the sunshine (in July !) and the calm seas to swim in (in July).

Edited July 13, 2021 by Soidog
Typos

[JohninDublin]

3 hours ago, AlexPTY said:

they need a bigger sandbox now!

V. Funny

[JohninDublin]

1 hour ago, Stonker said:

It rather begs the question that if the level of infections were " expected" then why in God's name did they do it?

They've set a ceiling of 90 infections a week for Phuket  - God knows why, but they have.

In comparative terms, 6 infections out of 4,000 arrivals over ten days equates in Phuket terms to 90 infections PER DAY!

... and they "expected" that?

... rather like Captain Edward Smith expected to see a bit of ice in the North Atlantic ...

And as far as I can tell, they are only counting locals in the 90 case per week target.

I've already said it, and others have alluded to it, that allowing unvaxxed kids in, presents a major threat to the Sandbox. Of the 6 cases reported so far in that group, three have been children, and two of those were initially missed for seven days following the on arrival PCR test. No telling what harm this may have caused.

The other matter that they need to look into, is what vaccines the other three took. We know that Emirates pax was given Sino. There were already huge red flags about this with an efficacy rate of 50-55% pre Delta Variant. The latest news is that the antibody count from this at 50% every 40 days. Thus if you've had a Sino jab 4 months ago, your antibody count is now down to 12.5% of it's original 55% effectiveness.

My own suspicion is that the African who was detected after vaxxing, is probably also a Sino case. I have absolutely no info on the third case, so wont speculate on that one, but it seems likely to me that Sinovax is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

Remove kids from entry and Sinovax, and you have at most to date, 2 new infections related to the Sandbox.

Would that impact the economic model of what Phuket is trying to achieve. My guess is "No". I can imagine that a lot of people cancelled their plans when they saw what happened with the Emirates flight, and that is unlikely to have happened if Sinovax was not used. The downside is that TH has become very enamoured with Chinese inward investment in recent years, and I can imagine that Beijing would not be happy to see their name dragged through the mud over this. Message to the TH gov, Matthew 6.24: "“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

[quang]

70% of people in phuket have been vaccinated? On this 70%, could you indicate the percentage of people vaccinated with Sinovac?

[gummy]

31 minutes ago, quang said:

70% of people in phuket have been vaccinated? On this 70%, could you indicate the percentage of people vaccinated with Sinovac?

You should forward your question to Kh Anutin, the Minister for Health as I suspect no one on TT is privy to that information.