News Forum - ICUs in Chiang Mai nearly full amidst Covid-19 surge

[Thaiger]

In Chiang Mai, surging Covid-19 infections have filled ICUs and plunged the province into crisis, just days before international reopening. Doctors are warning that the province is near critical levels as it has just two hospitals that are capable of treating severe Covid-19 patients and they are reporting that their intensive care units are nearly at full capacity. Daily infections have averaged 380 per day in the last week, and the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Chiang Mai University has warned that new clusters are being uncovered every day.  The doctor said that 5% of new infections are […]

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[Bob20]

I've been trying to keep you informed in a small way over the last weeks.

But my prediction that North gate would be the next market to close was wrong. In fact it is San Pa Koi market in Wat Ket that's now closed as well due to over 60 cases.

How authorities can think these are stand-alone cases is a mystery to me, because everyone knows that all these markets are provided for and staffed by the same families/farms/companies.

And meanwhile CM keeps requesting vaccines that are not coming. Why they were not sent when everyone was sounding the alarm on the plans of opening up, is sheer incompetence.

With 400+ cases a day within very small test-groups, by now it's clear that the problem is all over CM and more action is necessary than just closing a markets and begging for some vials.

[Pompies]

Seems to me that there is a move afoot to suppress the new infection numbers by denying Covid tests to people. A friend who has had the first Sinovac & awaits the AZ started feeling unwell with classic Covid symptoms, loss of voice, difficulty breathing, exhaustion etc. She works within 500 metres of 3 markets that have been closed but was denied testing by the hospital twice in 2 days. On the third attempt she was tested & has been waiting for 48 hours for test results. So it has been over 5 days since she fell ill & still no diagnosis. This cannot be safe medical practice.

[Lowseasonlover]

I didnt realise it was that bad up there, stay safe guys

[Cabra]

Thailand continues to be in the top 10 globally with respect to net number of new daily cases. The entire reopening is going to be botched at this rate. 

[Bob20]

20 minutes ago, Pompies said:

Seems to me that there is a move afoot to suppress the new infection numbers by denying Covid tests to people. A friend who has had the first Sinovac & awaits the AZ started feeling unwell with classic Covid symptoms, loss of voice, difficulty breathing, exhaustion etc. She works within 500 metres of 3 markets that have been closed but was denied testing by the hospital twice in 2 days. On the third attempt she was tested & has been waiting for 48 hours for test results. So it has been over 5 days since she fell ill & still no diagnosis. This cannot be safe medical practice.

It's the same all over. PCR tests are replaced by ATK's because the positive ATK's are not counted in the statistics. That's how they manipulate the daily numbers to stay low.

The hospitals don't test to capacity but only to a pre-allowed number. If you're too late, you can get your own ATK. And guess what: if you test positive then you go home and nobody knows and again it doesn't show in the statistics!

And finally, they don't do random testing but specifically assign locations for temporary teststations. And the people that go to hospital for a test most likely do so because they are worried or have symptoms. So nobody knows the reality of the situation overall.

And requests for vaccines are being considered. But even if they send them, those vaccines are not bringing the numbers down because they are not immediately effective and for the ones who already contracted the virus is too late. Strict measures are necessary, but not even mask wearing or social distancing is enforced.

All they do is plug one hole of a sieve while the virus keeps pooring out of all the other holes.

[HolyCowCm]

Calm down, you can believe the government when they say everything is under control and ok. The normal cases, ICU cases and deaths are just peon collateral damage, and please don't worry because all of us, your big muckety-muck fatheads are fully vaccinated and will be fine and ok to further run your country into the ground.

[gummy]

1 minute ago, HolyCowCm said:

Calm down, you can believe the government when they say everything is under control and ok. The normal cases, ICU cases and deaths are just peon collateral damage, and please don't worry because all the us, your big muckety-muck fatheads are fully vaccinated and will be fine and ok to further run your country into the ground.

think you forgot something;

"and will be fine and ok to further run your country into the ground" whilst generally residing in other countries

[Pompies]

As an update on my earlier post. My Sinovac dosed friend is Covid positive, she was informed last night but is still waiting over 12 hours later to be told where she must go to isolate & be treated. Her live-in boyfriend and her 2 work colleagues have not been tested but have been told to go to be tested if they start to feel unwell. This is patently ridiculous because they could be already positive but asymptomatic and so passing on the infection right now. Clearly there is no intention of proactive testing in CM & so there is no attempt to control the situation. Any tourist who visits from next week is taking huge risks because the situation is out of control at all levels.

[Bob20]

5 minutes ago, Pompies said:

As an update on my earlier post. My Sinovac dosed friend is Covid positive, she was informed last night but is still waiting over 12 hours later to be told where she must go to isolate & be treated. Her live-in boyfriend and her 2 work colleagues have not been tested but have been told to go to be tested if they start to feel unwell. This is patently ridiculous because they could be already positive but asymptomatic and so passing on the infection right now. Clearly there is no intention of proactive testing in CM & so there is no attempt to control the situation. Any tourist who visits from next week is taking huge risks because the situation is out of control at all levels.

Thanks for confirming what I've been saying for many weeks.

They should of course now be self-isolating until they can get a test.

And the tourists, who will most likely be vaccinated, will pick up the virus, stay mostly symptomless and spread it all over while they travel across Thailand.

I call it Songkran 2.

All this indeed shows the lack of policy and care of a government, who keep mopping up only little puddles while the tap is wide open...

[Jason]

Now I understand why they want foreigners to be vaccinated on arrival! The Thai Government's effort to vaccinate the population, makes my government's efforts look positively glowing. You can fudge the figures all you like. Delta will make a mockery of fudged figures. When hospitals can no longer cope, bodies on the streets will be undeniable.

[Stonker]

2 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

(snip) ... your big muckety-muck fatheads are fully vaccinated and will be fine and ok to further run your country into the ground.

It does rather beg the question of why farangs have always been a priority where the better vaccines are concerned, despite the whingeing to the contrary .....

[Stonker]

3 hours ago, Cabra said:

Thailand continues to be in the top 10 globally with respect to net number of new daily cases. The entire reopening is going to be botched at this rate. 

It's a major disaster waiting to happen, @Cabra ... the only thing that can stop it happening now, sadly, is if there's a relatively minor disaster first.

[Bob20]

16 minutes ago, Jason said:

Now I understand why they want foreigners to be vaccinated on arrival! The Thai Government's effort to vaccinate the population, makes my government's efforts look positively glowing. You can fudge the figures all you like. Delta will make a mockery of fudged figures. When hospitals can no longer cope, bodies on the streets will be undeniable.

Just look one step ahead...

If case numbers and deaths go up in Thailand and tourists get infected (vaccinated or not), their home countries are not going to be happy letting them back in and stricter controls may follow.

Even if such countries are not worried about a few more carriers in a highly vaccinated country, they may want to test for variants from a country with low vaccination levels.

So then you jumped through hoops to get here, spend your time here with all the extra restrictions and could face a cumbersome trip home. With all the extra expenses in top.

Holiday of a lifetime!

 

As for fudging numbers, they already claimed for CM that there was plenty of capacity, because when every hospital was full, they opened a 1500 bed field hospital. And last week that one was full too, so they opened a second one.

By just quoting a percentage of free beds, they hide the escalating actual case numbers. And they are already distorted, as they don't include positive ATK's!

[Lowseasonlover]

[palooka]

Up to the Provincial Governor to take the lead and shut down CM to tourists, Prayut and his mates will not do it.

SaKaeo Governor has cancelled return to school on 1st of November, possibly Chantaburi and Rayong going the same way.  Expecting more regulations and restrictions as numbers increase here.

Think the gamble on tourism is about to crash.

 

[Malc-Thai]

Hi tourists. Welcome to Chiang Mai .. how would you like your covid? Served at your restaurant or at a temple or maybe at a market..

[Bob20]

5 minutes ago, Malc-Thai said:

Hi tourists. Welcome to Chiang Mai .. how would you like your covid? Served at your restaurant or at a temple or maybe at a market..

Not at a market. They're closed

[Lowseasonlover]

42 minutes ago, Bob20 said:

Not at a market. They're closed

All them markets need closing down dirty rancid places 

[Bob20]

3 minutes ago, Lowseasonlover said:

All them markets need closing down dirty rancid places 

Yes, I mentioned that earlier. They close them down, spray some disinfectant over the rotten wood and dirty concrete and they're good to go again. Instead they should have removed all the old decrepit stuff and renovated it in the two weeks it was closed!

[Benmore777]

The infection numbers are being downplayed just like where I live. The governor apparently doesn't want the true figures published so a chunk of them are taken off and used for the next day's infection rate.

All of this subterfuge will come back to bite them on the you know what.

[Bob20]

1 hour ago, Lowseasonlover said:

Just saw that CM stays RED as well and doesn't enter blue by some way, so I think even just "official opening" with very few tourists is off the table.

I'm sorry for the ones that booked specifically to visit CM, but for quite a while they should expect that things can change at short notice. Not only here, but even in their home countries.

[HolyCowCm]

3 hours ago, Stonker said:

It does rather beg the question of why farangs have always been a priority where the better vaccines are concerned, despite the whingeing to the contrary .....

Don't have the slightest except maybe big Thailand is getting international funding from many countries they don't want to end? I for one know the USA still gives them free money.

[HolyCowCm]

6 hours ago, Stonker said:

It does rather beg the question of why farangs have always been a priority where the better vaccines are concerned, despite the whingeing to the contrary .....

Doesn't it. My wife is still waiting for 3  paid up registrations we have for Moderna for her. But even today as we went to see a movie at Promenada mall in CM today, they were giving multiple schools Pfizer shots. And these teenagers were in the hundreds. Who are they trying to impress? Their Son and daughter have Pfizer but their mom and dad will contract and be sick or die because no good vaccine to do as forced but to will not do Sinocrap or AZ as the BS government are pushing for the normal Thai above 17 years old folk? Let their BS kill them.  All I can say is their days are truly numbered no matter what they do. They are slime. The adults do not want their pushed BS of CCP vaccine or whom ever is making AZ. Funny how the countries now are donating AZ. The next not wanted dangerous vaccine, that is currently in the Thai news of not good and even those countries don't want this vaccine.. No, my wife does not want it as well as her CM friends. They see it as playing a Russian roulette. No thanks they say. 

Right now AZ is toss for safety. Sinovac? No one in CM wants either. Both are bad eggs here now. F them. 

[Bob20]

1 hour ago, HolyCowCm said:

Don't have the slightest except maybe big Thailand is getting international funding from many countries they don't want to end? I for one know the USA still gives them free money.

Maybe they're worried our countries won't take us back with Sinovac and we stay here?