Bar opening day finally arrived - and here are the rules

[Gaybutton]

The day many of us wondered if it would ever come has finally arrived. Today is opening day for the bars. It will be interesting to see which bars have opened, what the boys are wearing in the go-go bars, and how many boys are there.

I hope we will be getting posts letting us know.

Meanwhile, here are the rules for Pattaya. I have not seen anything published for Bangkok, Chiang Mai, or anywhere else, but I imagine the rules will be essentially the same.

Closing time is midnight. Many bar owners are protesting that and want longer hours, as I imagine customers also want. But at least for the time being, the bars have to close by midnight. I suppose the positive way to look at it is at least the bars are finally allowed to open at all.

I note that the list of rules Mr. Judd summarized do not include specific face mask rules for customers, but do include specific face mask rules for bar staff. My guess is the bars will set their own face mask rules for customers and probably won't require customers to wear face masks (which is a little hard to do while drinking)

Here they are:
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Chonburi Governor releases new Covid-19 orders, officially allowing entertainment venues to open, with conditions

By Adam Judd

31 May, 2022

The Chonburi Governor, in partnership with the communicable disease committee, released new Covid-19 related orders tonight, May 31st, 2022.

Here are the highlights. This is not a word-for-word translation but rather a summary.

Bars, karaoke, pubs, nightclubs, gogos, soapies, etc can open effective June 1st, like bars, clubs, etc, and not converted restaurants but must meet the following criteria:

1. Have completed Thai Stop Covid 2 Plus assessment.

2. Can legally sell alcohol and open until Midnight

3. All staff must be completely vaccinated against Covid-19, including a booster.

4. If staff is in “close contact” with customers, they must wear a mask.

5. Covid-19 testing must be performed weekly with antigen test kits on all staff.

6. Self-assessments of staff should be done through the Thai Save Thai application

7. Owners must check customers are fully vaccinated, including a booster dose, before letting them in. There is no ATK for customers at entrance requirement anymore for alcohol serving venues, this was removed.

8. Customers over 60, pregnant, or at-risk are “suggested” to not go to entertainment venues due to the risk of Covid-19.

-All other categories of businesses can open “normally” but under Ministry of Public Health precautions.

https://thepattayanews.com/2022/05/31/c ... onditions/

[Gaybutton]

The rules are one thing. Enforcement is another. "Owners must check customers are fully vaccinated, including a booster dose, before letting them in."

I don't know how long bars are going to comply with that and I'm not picturing bars turning people away. And what about outdoor beer bars where people can walk in and out and may not even be noticed, let alone checked?

And what are the police going to do to make sure the bars are complying - raid the bars and make each customer prove that they indeed were vaccinated?

I like this one: "Customers over 60, pregnant, or at-risk are “suggested” to not go to entertainment venues due to the risk of Covid-19."

Yeah, right! I would think most gay farang in Thailand are probably well over 60. Does anyone truly believe they're not going to go to the bars?

Ok, gents - many are looking forward to your bar reports. I hope those of you who go to the bars will post.

[Jun]

I like this one: "Customers over 60, pregnant, or at-risk are “suggested” to not go to entertainment venues due to the risk of Covid-19."

Yeah, right! I would think most gay farang in Thailand are probably well over 60. Does anyone truly believe they're not going to go to the bars?

Customers under 60, over 60 and comfortably over 60 have been patronising the bars for months already. I wouldn't imagine that they are suddenly going to stop today.

[gerefan]

So they have opened Gogo bars but you should be under 60 to be go in.
Thanks for today’s laugh Thailand!!

[Trongpai]

From my observations in Bangkok last night:

Rule 1 Who knows
Rule 2 Yes they are closing at midnight and police enforced.
Rule 3 Probably but how is that checked?
Rule 4 No compliance, they have masks outside but not inside the bar.
Rule 5 I doubt it
Rule 6 I really doubt that
Rule 7 Not done, and I went in 4 different Bangkok bars last night. The gay discos and perhaps all discos do requite customer testing or a photo of a test with a date stamp.
I don't know if any massage venues or gay saunas require a test for entry. Anyone know?
Rule 8 Yea, OK that's a joke yes?