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Learning to Live with Covid-19 in Thailand
By: Richard T.
Learning to live with Covid.
As Thailand emerges from lockdown it is interesting to see how the country is coping with being a covid free country. There are no doubts that the Thai government were successful in implementing policies in eradicating the disease as fast as any country in the world.
Their measures were embraced by its population and daily figures of new cases plummeted to the present scenario where locally there is no further evidence of the virus. However the downside is that the country now seems obsessed that the virus never returns in any shape or form.
Last week the incident in Rayong involving the military man from Egypt has brought near hysteria to the country. Local schools have been closed and the 90% cancellation of hotel bookings show that the fear of the virus returning is shared both by the people and the authorities. If Thailand is to open up its airports and encourage the return of international visitors it has to accept that there will be occasions when infected people will enter the country.
It is so widespread around the globe that it is inevitable that this will happen. However, can the country afford not benefiting from the vast income that these tourists bring into the country. Thailand clearly has a choice as it moves ahead, although it may be a very difficult one.
It can either open up to international visitors once again and learn to live with the virus, or it can remain totally isolated from the rest of the world living virus free but suffering from the economic hardships that this will inevitably bring.
The evidence has shown (In the opinion of the author) that even when the virus has been brought into the country the heat and humidity add together to produce climatic conditions where the virus struggles to spread. One thing is for sure is that if the country continues to panic every time there is a new case this will be to the detriment of the people and a certain amount of re-education of the people is needed in the near future.
Richard T via Facebook
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