Looking at the Bright Side

[Gaybutton]

I believe at the moment you are much safer in Pattaya than the U.K. or USA however, I do believe this is only the calm before the storm

I think so too. Even if the "storm" hits Pattaya, and probably just about anywhere else, there is very little reason why people can't remain safe as long as they follow the advice of staying home, proper hand washing (maybe even wearing surgical gloves to avoid contact with anything that might hold the virus), keeping your distance from people, avoid physical contact with anyone, and going out only when necessary. When going out, wear a mask. I still think wearing a mask is essentially useless, but if I have to go out I wear mine anyway.

I also use delivery when I can, to avoid having to go out.

Maybe staying home all the time until this is over might make you "stir crazy", but I'd rather be "stir crazy" than in a hospital dying of the virus.

It's the people who don't follow that advice who are most likely to get the virus and spread it.

[Jun]

Even if the "storm" hits Pattaya, and probably just about anywhere else, there is very little reason why people can't remain safe as long as they follow the advice of staying home, proper hand washing (maybe even wearing surgical gloves to avoid contact with anything that might hold the virus), keeping your distance from people, avoid physical contact with anyone, and going out only when necessary. When going out, wear a mask. I still think wearing a mask would be essentially useless, but I wear mine anyway.

I would assume the storm has already hit Pattaya, given the incubation period for COVID and probable inaccuracies in figures.

[Gaybutton]

I would assume the storm has already hit Pattaya

If it has, we'll know soon enough.

[Dodger]

If it grows at 20% a day, which is typical in many western countries, it is 3.4 million in one month.
In the second month, growth tails off as the majority of the population are infected.

It's the risk of that type of exponential explosion that's worth worrying about.

In hind sight, if the leaders of so many countries (including the U.S.) would have listened to their medical experts back in January this thing could have been nipped in the bud. The saving grace now is of course mass isolation/quarantine, international travel bans, and domestic block outs, including the closing of any/all events that draw a crowd. If these measures would have been implemented in January it may have been a different story.

I know the economic blow that a country takes when they implement these types of measures, and wouldn't expect any lightening fast decisions to be made when a pandemic like this occurs, but taking 3 months to react, especially when the experts were pleading with their governments to take action, is way too long.

On the bright side: Donald Trump said everything is going to be fine...people should continue working...and fill the churches on Easter Sunday. Of course one hour after making these statements at a press release, he was forced to sign a $2 trillion dollar bipartisan stimulus package.

[Jun]

In hind sight, if the leaders of so many countries (including the U.S.) would have listened to their medical experts back in January this thing could have been nipped in the bud. The saving grace now is of course mass isolation/quarantine, international travel bans. and domestic block outs, including the closing of any/all events that draw a crowd. If these measures would have been implemented in January it may have been a different story.

The leaders of so many countries are currently getting criticism for not taking action earlier.

Everyone forgets the WHO, who are supposed to be the experts, were recommending no international travel restrictions for ALL of January. Including for leaving China, where they already had a lockdown in place in Wuhan.

Had the WHO strongly recommended 14 day quarantine for anyone leaving China, this would either have been contained in China or could have been massively delayed. But they were recommending carrying on as normal with international travel.

Now the WHO are recommending restrictions for billions of people.

What I'd like to know is why are governments getting so much criticism, yet the WHO are exempted from it ?

The WHO are supposed to be experts, whilst good governments act mainly on advice from experts. The WHO have been a disgrace, yet seem to be above criticism.

[Dodger]

Another possible bright spot for Americans:

The U.S. government has passed a $2 trillion dollar bipartisan stimulus package which apparently goes into effect immediately.

According to the article linked below, 96% of Americans will receive a check from Uncle Sam to help through these hard times.

Those on social security will also receive checks.

It looks like those who earn less than 75k will receive around $1,200. Those who earn more will get a reduced amount.

https://www.aol.com/article/finance/202 ... /23963584/

[Undaunted]

On the bright side: Donald Trump said everything is going to be fine...people should continue working...and fill the churches on Easter Sunday. Of course one hour after making these statements at a press release, he was forced to sign a $2 trillion dollar bipartisan stimulus package.

Believe it or not Trump has highest rating in his presidency:

CNN)President Donald Trump's approval now averages higher than his approval rating has been at any point in CNN's polling during his presidency, as 47% approve and 48% disapprove rating of his handling of the presidency, according to CNN's Poll of Polls.

The Poll of Polls is an average of recent national phone polling conducted among adults or registered voters.
Trump's handling of the coronavirus outbreak averages higher approval, standing at 52%, while disapproval stands at 45%.
His average approval for handling the coronavirus outbreak is sharply improved from CNN's first measure of that rating earlier this month, when 41% said they approved and 48% disapproved.
Polling has historically shown a rally effect for presidents facing a crisis, where approval ratings rise whenever the nation faces a serious challenge. The recent increase in Trump's numbers may be due to that effect, but some presidents have seen higher increases, for example, President George W. Bush's numbers after the 9/11 attacks increased about 40 percentage points.
However, the duration of the bump in approval has varied, with some taking almost a year to recover while others have seen a more temporary boost.
The CNN Poll of Polls is an average of the five most recent non-partisan, live operator, national surveys on Trump's approval rating among either adults or registered voters. The Poll of Polls includes: The Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted March 22-25; the Fox News poll conducted March 21-24; the Monmouth University poll conducted March 18-22; the Gallup Poll conducted March 13-22 and the NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll conducted March 13-14.
The Poll of Polls does not have a margin of sampling error.

[gerefan]

The world is being turned upside down, the economy is being ruined, people’s livelihoods are being destroyed and for what?

To give a few people in their 70s and 80s a few more years of life.

Is it really worth it? .

Maybe you should ask that question to a few people who are 70-80 years old and see what kind of answer you get.

I thought I was!

[gerefan]

I believe at the moment you are much safer in Pattaya than the U.K. or USA however, I do believe this is only the calm before the storm

One needs to take into account temperatures. London, New York, Madrid and Milan still have night time temperatures barely above freezing. And this is where most of the deaths are occurring.

Thailand on the other hand is nowhere near as cold.

The “experts” tell us that this will be a seasonal event rather like the annual flu outbreak.

So, if you are in Thailand, you are extremely lucky.

[Gaybutton]

I thought I was!

Sorry, gerefan, but you really screwed up with that post. I think you will be much better off to just drop it. If you want to post things like that, do it on somebody else's board. If you think I'm going to tolerate that kind of posting on my board, think again.