More bad news for Pattaya

Anything and everything about Thailand
Post Reply
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21459
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

More bad news for Pattaya

Post by Gaybutton »

Am I missing something? If hopes have dimmed for an October 1 reopening date, how can Pattaya reopen September 1?
_______________________________________________________________________

Pattaya proposes moving up reopening, but hopes dim for even original Oct. 1 date

By Pattaya Mail

July 9, 2021

The only thing Pattaya officials and local tourism companies and associations could agree on at their latest meeting was that the city needs to reopen to foreign tourists soon. How to make that happen, however, remains a mystery.

Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome had no answers and no good news for anyone at the July 7 session. The city already had submitted its “Pattaya Move On” strategy to reopen Pattaya Oct. 1 to the National Security Council but heard nothing back. With the local economy plummeting, Sonthaya said a revised strategy with a targeted Sept. 1 opening date now will be submitted.

Hopefully, he said, it won’t be ignored, but Sonthaya noted that the NSC has a lot of other problems, including planning for a possible national lockdown, management of migrant workers at construction camps, and a daily coronavirus caseload that has now reached 7,000 a day.

The only way Pattaya can reopen is if 70 percent of the local population gets vaccinated against Covid-19. But the government is steering the vast majority of its small supply of vaccines to Bangkok, leaving Pattaya’s vaccination plan far behind schedule.

Sonthaya said the city cannot promise the people in the tourism industry, pubs, bars, restaurants and all other nightlife workers an exact time for reopening.

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ate-362783
thewayhelooks
Posts: 320
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2015 4:40 pm
Been thanked: 58 times

Re: More bad news for Pattaya

Post by thewayhelooks »

The Mayor probably believes in Santa and the Easter Bunny too. You want the tourists back, then vaccinate the population first. Simple as ABC.
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21459
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: More bad news for Pattaya

Post by Gaybutton »

Decide for yourself where you want to go, but the fact is, according to the article, the latest set of confirmed cases numbers 18. 8 of those cases occurred at various locations in Central Festival.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Pattaya and Chonburi informs residents who visited places in relation to most recent Covid -19 confirmed case

See: https://thepattayanews.com/2021/07/17/t ... -cases-10/
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21459
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: More bad news for Pattaya

Post by Gaybutton »

I really don't understand the logic behind this. Most restaurants have been fully complying with all the safety rules. A few - very few - have been caught cheating, such as ignoring social distancing rules, serving alcohol, staying open beyond mandated closing hours, etc. But most restaurants are not doing any of that. In my opinion the solution is not to blanket close every restaurant, but focus on catching the restaurants that are not complying, heavily fine the owners, put them in jail, and permanently close their restaurants. Then maybe they'll start complying.

It just seems to me forcing every restaurant to close yet again, forcing so many people out of work, is unreasonable and not a well thought through solution. Maybe the powers-that-be are thinking "It's only 2 weeks", but for people who have little or no money, getting no financial assistance unless they do the worst thing they can do - go to loan sharks - 2 weeks can be disastrous.

And who says it will be only 2 weeks? I'll be surprised if the restaurants will be allowed to open by then. If they do reopen, let's hope they're not going to be forced to close yet again. One way or another, this close, reopen, close, reopen cycle has to stop before there are no restaurants left at all. Once they are allowed to reopen, they need to be allowed to stay open provided they comply with the rules. The powers-that-be need to come up with another solution besides closing them all. I think that is causing many more problem than it solves. In fact, I can't think of any problems that solves.

Even some restaurants listed on the delivery services have stopped, saying they don't have enough customers and aren't making enough money to pay the bills. It is costing them more to remain open for deliveries than it costs to just stop entirely.
_________________________________________________________

Closed as bars, reborn as restaurants, Pattaya venues closed again

By Jetsada Homklin

July 22, 2021

When Pattaya’s bars were closed, many transformed into restaurants. Now, as restaurants, they’re being told to close again.

Such has been the life for owners of Pattaya food and drink establishments since March 2020: Close, open, close, open, and close again. Some operators have had enough and don’t plan to ever reopen.

For a scant few weeks this spring, restaurants could open for dine-in service. But the order came down last week that only takeout and delivery would be allowed now that Chonburi has been declared a “dark red” coronavirus maximum control zone; again.

People have been told to stay home during the day unless absolutely necessary and are legally barred from leaving home from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Deliveries must end by 8 p.m.

Pitsamai, an employee at a restaurant in Naklua that was once a bar, said her business has closed for all services. There’s simply not enough customers for its European cuisine and coffee.

She hopes that, within two weeks, the Covid-19 crisis will ebb and Chonburi will drop the “dark” from the “red” and limited dine-in service will return. But with the province hitting records for new coronavirus cases every day – 636 on Wednesday including 163 in Pattaya – that seems unlikely.

https://www.pattayamail.com/news/closed ... ain-364324
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21459
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: More bad news for Pattaya

Post by Gaybutton »

The following is our video report on a recent ban on dine-in due to Covid-19 that has restaurant owners in Pattaya angry, asking for an exit strategy, and plan to stop what seems like never ending rounds of restrictions and closures.




https://thepattayanews.com/2021/07/22/v ... -strategy/
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21459
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: More bad news for Pattaya

Post by Gaybutton »

Pattaya breadline gets longer and longer as mayor targets Sept 1 opening

By Jetsada Homklin

July 29, 2021

With hopes of getting the economy back on its feet again, Pattaya Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome said he is still very optimistic that he can open Pattaya for tourism and commerce on Sept. 1.

“Everyone must be vaccinated against Covid-19,” he said. “We have ordered the Sinopharm vaccine from the Chulabhorn Research Institute and we aim to vaccinate 70% of the population as soon as it arrives. Once we have achieved that goal, we can open Pattaya to the world as scheduled.”

In the meantime, the continuous suffering of the people affected by the economic and health disaster goes on unabated. The situation with the spread of the Covid-19 has become very unpredictable. Almost 20,000 cases are reported every day and everyone is at risk of getting infected unknowingly. Every person we come in contact with could be a carrier.

Thousands of businesses in Pattaya are still shut and many more are calling it quits every day. Unemployment numbers are soaring and an alarming number of families are dependent on food handouts to survive from day to day. The breadline is getting longer and longer.

Yet, there is a large number of generous people who continue to help the needy and the destitute in Pattaya.

On July 26, members of the public and private sector arranged food handouts for thousands of people at the Bali Hai Pier. The charity humanitarian mission was jointly supported by Sinchai Wattanasartsathorn, Pattaya Council member, Pol. Col. Arut Sapanon, Pattaya Police Station, the Pattaya Ruam Jai Group, Plantations International Co., Ltd., and local business people.

Thousands of people sat and waited patiently on the sprawling grounds at Bali Hai Pier as volunteers pushed supplies-laden trolleys along the rows of people handing out bags of food and amenities.

Thousands of bags of rice, dried food, meal boxes, and eggs were handed out to the gratified populace that day.

As long as the Covid-19 pandemic is still prevalent, there will still be millions of people in dire need of food and amenities. Pattaya City calls on anyone wishing to support these humanitarian projects to please call 038 253 144 to get more information on how to donate funds to this worthy cause.

Story and Photos: https://www.pattayamail.com/news/pattay ... ing-365433
Jun

Re: More bad news for Pattaya

Post by Jun »

Pattaya Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome wrote: Fri Jul 30, 2021 1:39 am “Everyone must be vaccinated against Covid-19,” he said. “We have ordered the Sinopharm vaccine from the Chulabhorn Research Institute and we aim to vaccinate 70% of the population as soon as it arrives. Once we have achieved that goal, we can open Pattaya to the world as scheduled.”
1 Once they have reached 70%, they should carry on vaccinating, as 70% is not enough to stop covid waves.

2 Whilst not being the best vaccine, at least Sinopharm appears slightly better than Sinovac, but comparing trial data from different countries and different trials is not a like for like comparison. Link below.

3 Allowing tourists in with 70% local vaccination seems sensible. Bear in mind that Pattaya is unlikely to reach a 0% infection rate and as tourists have to test twice, the infection rate for tourists released into the sandbox is likely to be below local levels.

https://theconversation.com/what-are-th ... ain-162258
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21459
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: More bad news for Pattaya

Post by Gaybutton »

Jun wrote: Fri Jul 30, 2021 3:12 pm Bear in mind that Pattaya is unlikely to reach a 0% infection rate and as tourists have to test twice, the infection rate for tourists released into the sandbox is likely to be below local levels.
How do you explain the tourists in Phuket who have tested positive for Covid?
Jun

Re: More bad news for Pattaya

Post by Jun »

Gaybutton wrote: Fri Jul 30, 2021 3:25 pmHow do you explain the tourists in Phuket who have tested positive for Covid?
Allow enough tourists in and I'd EXPECT some of them to test positive.

Let's assume 1 in 1000 people catch covid in a country every week.
They are allowed to take the covid test up to 72 hours before travelling (3 days).
So given that they could catch covid in that time, it would not be unreasonable to assume 3 infections in 7000 arrivals. Now you could adjust that either way, depending on whether the people take more care because of the known travel, or are at higher risk because of the travel.
Then there would be those arriving from dodgy countries with fake certificates -it's up to Thailand to analyze the data and modify the rules as necessary.

Of course, absolutely none of this changes the point I made above about relative infection rates.

What matters is the relative infection rate of tourists and locals.
Back in November, with near zero claimed local cases, a single case coming in would be a problem, since it is preferable to keep a zero infection rate.
Now with lots of cases in Thailand, as long as the case rate amongst visitors coming in is below local levels, it doesn't make much difference in terms of total infections.
Even if we had (hypothetically) 3 in 7000 infections amongst arrivals and 1 in 1000 amongst locals, tourists would not be making much difference. For a start, that's a lower infection rate among tourists.
Then, since the 3 in 7000 would be detected by the mandatory tests after arrival and sent off to some horrendous field hospital, this would be making no impact at all on local infection rates, as there is almost no chance for spreading covid. Well except for the poor bastards who got a sent to the field hospital for a false positive.
Meanwhile, the 1 in 1000 among the locals would probably be understated, as many locals would dodge tests as they don't want to get sent to some field hospital unless seriously in need of treatment. So the locals are less likely to be tested and less likely to be confined after infection.

Allowing for effects of the test regime, I think tourists will be more likely to catch covid off the locals than vice versa.

It's also a bit like letting black and brown rats into Australia. If a few more rats escape off a ship, it's not a major problem, as rats are now endemic. The actual problem was letting the first rats off ships a few hundred years ago.

Note: I have ignored the introduction of virus mutations here, since the sandbox policy also appears to ignore that. ie There is no obvious genome sequencing policy.
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21459
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: More bad news for Pattaya

Post by Gaybutton »

High infections, vaccine shortage, Pattaya has slim chance of reopening soon

By Pattaya Mail

August 2, 2021

The Chonburi Tourism Council has revealed that Pattaya intends to postpone its reopening plan because Thailand may not be able to control the high rate of infections and provide sufficient vaccinations until the fourth quarter of the year.

Council acting president Thanet Supornsahasrungsi said tourism operators have acknowledged that the plan to reopen two districts to international tourists in September may be delayed, as the country grapples with a severe vaccine shortage during the third wave of COVID-19, which began to affect the reopening schemes in Phuket and Samui last week.

He said Pattaya might not be able to open as scheduled if the province cannot build herd immunity by the deadline, adding that the situation in Pattaya is similar to the Andaman Islands, particularly with local tourists being restricted by the lockdown order.

Mr. Thanet said, even though Phuket has reopened to vaccinated foreigners, stringent preventive measures and weak demand in the early stages mean many shops, restaurants and entertainment venues remain closed, which is discouraging travelers from considering an excursion to Thailand.

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... oon-366121
Post Reply