Flashermac

It was reported in the news that the US rejected the Chinese test equipment since its accuracy was so low. Meanwhile ... a look at the past: 1918 Flu Pandemic That Killed 50 Million Originated in China, Historians Say Chinese laborers transported across Canada thought to be source. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/1/140123-spanish-flu-1918-china-origins-pandemic-science-health/

Governor Bans Booze Sale to Curb Coronavirus Spread SAKON NAKHON — Sakon Nakhon became the first province to ban the sale of alcohol in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus, though a trade guild said the move may have the opposite effect. The order was issued by Governor Witthaya Chanchalong and effective from Tuesday until April 16, just as the province reported 12 confirmed cases of virus infection. Those caught selling alcohol during that time period face a maximum jail term of one year and a fine of up to 100,000 baht. The ban was imposed “in order to ensure that people are safe from the spread of communicable disease, coronavirus (COVID-19), Sakon Nakhon province must employ measures to guard, protect and control,” according to the order. ... https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2020/03/31/governor-bans-booze-sale-to-curb-coronavirus-spread/ There you are, finally a governor with common sense. Ban alcohol and the virus will decide it's not fun to be there and go away. Out of 76 provinces, only the governor of Sakon Nakorn was smart enough to realise this.

Army of Communist Chinese Twitter bots peddle disinformation about coronavirus origins China has set up multiple fake bot accounts on Twitter using Radio Free Asia’s logo and descriptions to tweet fake news in recent months, including allegations that the coronavirus came from the U.S., a recent investigative report has found. The tweets are sent by accounts using the RFA logo, but named after various regions of China, for example “Radio Free Guangdong,” or “Radio Free Anhui.” They churn out tweets that reflect the official line of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, including the rumor that the coronavirus pandemic originated in the United States and not in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. The public interest journalism website ProPublica said it had tracked more than 10,000 suspected fake Twitter accounts since August 2019 that have been part of a “coordinated influence campaign with ties to the Chinese government.” The report’s co-author Jeff Kao said the hijacking of visual identifiers from legitimate accounts to impersonate them is a hallmark of Beijing’s social media campaigns. “They changed one of the letters in the Twitter handle and they were posting political messages that were in line with the Chinese government’s views,” Kao told RFA. “They have very few real followers, but what they were tweeting would get like 100 likes or 20 retweets, and I think that was another tactic that they were trying out,” he said. For example, a recent post in English reported on aid the Chinese government recently provided to Italy, and was sent by the Twitter handle @RNA_Chinese. “[The account] appears to have been an attempt to fool the casual reader into believing it was coming from the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia (@RFA_Chinese),” the report said. Hacked, repurposed accounts Other accounts tweeting pro-China propaganda were actually once genuine, but had been repurposed after they were hacked, the ProPublic report said. “They included a professor in North Carolina; a graphic artist and a mother in Massachusetts; a web designer in the U.K.; and a business analyst in Australia,” it said. “Suspected Chinese operatives have stepped up their efforts in recent days, according to private messages shared with ProPublica, offering influential Chinese-speaking Twitter users cash for favorable posts,” it said. The article said the fake accounts are tailored to different audiences, but the Chinese-language posts were likely aimed at influencing the “millions of ethnic Chinese” who don’t live in mainland China. In August and September, Twitter announced that it had suspended more than 5,000 suspected Chinese state-controlled accounts and banned around 200,000 accounts that hadn’t yet been fully activated. ProPublica said it wrote computer programs to document millions of interactions between the 10,000 suspected fake accounts and trace an interrelated network of more than 2,000. “The true scale of the influence campaign is likely much bigger; our tracking suggests that the accounts we identified comprise only a portion of the operation,” it said. “We found a pattern of coordinated activity among the fake accounts that appeared to be aimed at building momentum for particular storylines,” it said. Among the storylines were the smearing of the Hong Kong protest movement as “rioters” and “separatists,” and praise lavished on the city’s police as they used unprecedented amounts of violence to crack down on largely peaceful protesters. Yang Jianli, founder of the Washington-based human rights group Citizen Power, said he has been targeted by hackers backed and directed by the Chinese state, although their companies may be nominally listed as private. “The authorities use a lot of private companies to carry out operations like this, and many are willing to provide this service to the Chinese government,” Yang said. “Clearly these companies benefit from being under the aegis of government power and privilege,” he said. Efforts not effective Kao said the fake accounts aren’t convincing enough yet to be effective, however. “It’s hard to say that any minds will change … because the accounts look so fake,” he said. “But I think the message was definitely reaching the people that it was trying to reach.” There are strong links between the Chinese Twitter bots and a Beijing-based internet marketing company called OneSight, as many of the fake accounts had liked its tweets. The company recently won a U.S.$175,000 contract to boost the Twitter following of the state-run China News Service, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party’s outreach and influence arm, the United Front Work Department. On Jan. 29, OneSight announced a new app that tracked virus-related information, and tweeted that it would “transmit the correct voice of China” to the world, just six days after Beijing imposed a lockdown on Wuhan. “The influence network suddenly shifted its focus to the coronavirus epidemic,” ProPublica said. A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment specifically when contacted by ProPublica. “Using technology and human review in concert, we proactively monitor Twitter to identify attempts at platform manipulation and mitigate them,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “If we identify further information campaigns on our service that we can reliably attribute to state-backed activity either domestic or foreign-led, we will disclose them.” https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/03/army-of-communist-chinese-twitter-bots-peddle-disinformation-about-coronavirus-origins/?utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=alt&utm_source=militarymemes&fbclid=IwAR18ULLEq29HcMQT1yRjW30wFwFp_oHsZRczUQ0-iN7tx-3nqqvq1aM7_uE

What It’s Like to Catch, and Survive, the Coronavirus in Thailand BANGKOK — Speaking from his condo, Singaporean expat Jay Feng asked other people currently in self-isolation at their homes to stay calm and not to panic. He knew a thing or two about the coronavirus; in fact, he survived it. Feng, who recovered several weeks after he first tested positive earlier this month, said he beat the virus by monitoring his symptoms early on, keeping a positive mindset even when he was in enormous physical pain, and relying on the sheer strength of his immune system. Plus a well-covered insurance plan. “The most important thing is to not panic. The Thai healthcare system is actually very good,” Feng said in a telephone interview. “The authorities are fairly decent. Even if you don’t speak Thai, communicate your symptoms and medical history very clearly.” Feng, 36, is the owner of Ohana Poke restaurant on Wireless Road, and leads what he describes as a very healthy, active lifestyle – he never smoked, exercised regularly, eats a very healthy diet, and gets lots of sleep. But on March 8, he woke up with a strange body ache. He bought a thermometer at a nearby pharmacy and stayed at home the whole day, but it didn’t go away. “Usually I get well quickly, even if I don’t get sick often,” he said. “But it was a body ache not like I bumped into something, but like my whole body crashed into something.” The next day, he decided to get checked out at Bangkok Christian Hospital, even though he didn’t have a fever. After about 20 or so tests for other diseases, the doctors asked if he would also like to get a test for COVID-19, but be admitted for the night. However, Feng did not meet the criteria for free coronavirus test, which include a fever over 37.5C, recent visit to a high-risk country, or close contact with a proven case. Still, he chose to get tested out of an abundance of caution. “I chose to pay out of my pocket because I see people every day have it. I just admit myself and do the test, lah,” he said. Feng was wheeled to the quarantine area and nurses stuck swabs about 20 centimeters down his nose and throat (“It’s a terrible feeling, very unpleasant. But you get used to it.”) as well as a blood sample. Feng was feeling relatively well – until 1am that night. He woke up, inexplicably cold, with a dull pain in his left lung. He got some paracetamol from the nurses. At 3am, he woke up dazed, incoherent, with his hospital gown drenched in sweat, with the pain increasing. He measured a 37.7C fever. He couldn’t sleep for the remainder of the night. Nurses came in at 5am to ask him questions relating to the virus that he had already answered, and at 7am, they informed him he had tested positive for the coronavirus. “This is when it hit me. I was completely, completely, shocked. I was lost for 30 seconds, don’t know how to react. I was completely dazed,” Feng recalled. “I started shaking because of the sickness and receiving this news and battling my emotions.” Life in ‘VIP Treatment’ While nurses were quickly packing his things, Feng mentally ran through the people he had been in close contact with. He called and messaged his family, loved ones, and employees. “I tested positive, you need to get tested and isolate yourself,” he said. He was whisked away on a wheelchair and saw all the nurses and medical staff in full protective gowns standing away from him, with someone taking photos of him. “I started to become really worried. There was uncertainty about how I will pay for treatment. Everything became a blur as I was very sick,” he said. Feng said he appreciated the “very brilliant” nurse wheeling him who tried to reassure him and calm him down. “This is despite being next to a confirmed COVID case. She made me as comfortable as possible.” eng was sent to the state-owned Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute on March 10, where “The VIP treatment continued. I was in a wheelchair, and all the lift and pathways were cleared for you,” he said. He would spend the next two weeks in a negative pressure isolation ward. “At that time I didn’t even know what hospital I was in. I couldn’t take in the news,” he said. His ward was separated from the corridor by a containment room where nurses would leave medicine and the mae baan would leave his food. He could only go in if there was no one else in it. The ward itself had his hospital bed, a sofa bed, three windows with blinds, a table, and a chair. The bathroom was spacious and the shower had a heater. “It was new equipment, excellent, and clean. High tech, with lots of motion sensors. There were few physical buttons to press,” Feng said. Doctors told him that he would get tested every two days for the virus. If he tested negative twice consecutively, then he would be discharged. The doctors could only treat his symptoms from now on – his immune system had to do the heavy lifting. “That took the weight of uncertainty off. It gave me encouragement, a final goal that was in my thoughts every night. That really helped a lot,” Feng said. Guilt Kicks In Feng kept very detailed public records of his medical journey and posted them online to his shop’s Facebook page as a show of transparency and public responsibility. His first post on March 10 on his admission day at Bamrasnaradura spoke about where he went in the days leading up to it. The post went viral, with over 9,000 likes and 6,000 shares. He received thousands of messages, including from concerned customers about if they will catch the disease if they ate at his shop. The next few days were the worst, Feng recalled. His lungs were in pain, he was chronically tired, he was incoherent. “I had a dry cough, not like the scratchy kind or the kind with phlegm. It was like coughing my lungs out. I couldn’t sleep because of the aches,” he said. COVID-19 also came with a mental burden of guilt. “I felt so guilty because I may have inadvertently passed it onto someone. That part was the worst. It was my main motivation for sharing the post. I want people to know as soon as possible and quarantine themselves,” he said. Days four to seven, Feng was feeling slightly better but still very lethargic. Nurses took his vitals every four hours. He remembered high-tech equipment that would digitally capture his stats and send them online to the cloud, while doctors monitoring from afar would speak to him via speakerphone with excellent English. Feng started devising a routine to help him get through the day: wake up, shower, change clothes, breakfast, take medicine, reply to messages on his Facebook for two hours, update his condition on social media, lunch, Netflix, read (“If I could focus”), a nap, dinner, read the news, reply to more messages, and sleep. He watched on the news as the coronavirus numbers shot up worldwide – but it only gave him more motivation to beat the disease. “Yes, it was depressing. But watching it, I knew I needed to survive this thing. Instead of having it put me down I wanna help people and give people hope, so they can say that someone they know survived this thing,” he said. Missing the Human Touch Although he made many video calls, reassuring his family that the healthcare standards in Thailand were “very, very decent” he still missed the human touch. “It’s different than having someone be there,” he said. As the nurses came along each day in their protective PPE suits, he tried to chat to them with his limited Thai. It struck him how much the nurses have on their plate – not only do they have to treat him, they also did his laundry, took out his trash, cleaned his room, and disinfected his toilet. “They did that because most of the mae baan are senior, so contracting the virus would be more dangerous for them. So they are doing this so mae baan don’t have to be in the room. It’s very heartwarming,” he said. By day nine, Feng had replied to every single one of the thousands of messages he received, and he was beginning to severely miss the sun on his face and wind in his hair. Staff moved him to a regular ward because he was already self-sufficient and his X-rays came back without lung damage. Most alarmingly, however, the hospital needed the room to admit a pregnant lady with coronavirus who needed the oxygen supply equipment. “My heart sank from hearing that. The importance of social distancing and flattening the curve really struck me. I was clearly in a better position than that pregnant lady and older people. This could be their last fight,” he said. Bad News and Good News Meanwhile, he received word that two of his staff at the restaurant had also contracted the virus and were undergoing treatment as well. None of the family and friends of the three tested positive for the disease, however, so he posits that they contracted it from a customer. Feng was very disappointed on days 9 and 10 when he continued to test positive, even though he had no more symptoms. “The isolation really kicked in. You didn’t see anyone or the outside world, the air, the sun. I was mentally looking forward to going back to my regular life,” he said. “I felt lousy about it.” Fortunately, he tested negative on Day 11. “Just one more, and I can go home,” he told himself. And he did on Day 12. “I felt happy, but there were many mixed feelings coming together. I felt happy this episode was over, but cautious,” he said. He went home on Day 13, with instructions to self-quarantine for a week. He’s been home since. Money Matters After a negotiation with his insurance agent at Krungthai Axa, the entirety of his 147,000 baht medical costs were covered by the firm. It would have been a considerable bill otherwise. His one day stay at Bangkok Christian Hospital alone amounted to 50,000 baht, and his 12-day stay at Bamrasnaradura cost about 97,000 baht. His close contacts also received free coronavirus tests due to their history of coming in close proximity with Feng. Feng is looking forward to putting this episode behind him, and finding a way to keep his shop going after a month of no income. “At the end of the day, your own immune system has to do everything,” he said. “So please practice social distancing. This episode is not about you, but who you may affect that cannot afford to catch this – the old, the weak, and the vulnerable. https://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2020/03/30/what-its-like-to-catch-and-survive-the-coronavirus-in-thailand/

BANGKOK — Speaking from his condo, Singaporean expat Jay Feng asked other people currently in self-isolation at their homes to stay calm and not to panic. He knew a thing or two about the coronavirus; in fact, he survived it. https://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2020/03/30/what-its-like-to-catch-and-survive-the-coronavirus-in-thailand/

Prayut has announced that Thailand is buying medical equipment and supplies from the PRC. Maybe he can buy back those masks that a deputy minister sold to China. Meanwhile, life goes on.

Q: What is an Economic Stimulus payment? A: It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers. Q: Where will the government get this money? A: From taxpayers. Q: So the government is giving me back my own money? A: Only a smidgen of it. Q: What is the purpose of this payment? A: The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a high definition television set, a new iPad, or a new SUV, thus stimulating the economy. Q: Isn’t that stimulating the economy of China? A: Shut up. Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the U. S. economy and spend your stimulus check wisely: * If you spend the stimulus money at Walmart, the money will go to China or Sri Lanka. * if you spend it on gasoline, your money goes to the Arabs. * if you purchase a phone or computer, it goes to India,Taiwan or China. * if you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. * if you buy an efficient car, it will go to Japan or Korea. * if you purchase useless stuff, it goes to Taiwan. * if you pay your credit card off, or buy stock, it will go to management bonuses and they will hide it offshore. Instead keep the money in America by: (1) Spending it at a socially-distanced yard sale, or (2) Get takeout from a restaurant, or (3) Spend it on prostitutes, or (4) Beer, or (5) Tattoos (These are the only American businesses still operating in the U.S.) CONCLUSION: Get takeout with a tattooed prostitute that you met at a yard sale and drink beer all day.

PATTAYA: Beaches are deserted, go-go bars stand empty and cabarets have shut their doors in the tourist haven of Pattaya, as business has ground to a standstill after worldwide travel restrictions because of the coronavirus pandemic. For one of the world's most famed -- some might say infamous -- tourism hotspots, the economic devastation is near-total and business owners say haven't seen anything like it for four decades. "Our organisation has halted business 100%. Pattaya is a tourist city, we rely mostly on them. The whole city is affected by the virus," Alcazar Cabaret Show executive Pawin Phettrakul told Reuters. In normal times, the theatre -- which features high-kicking dancing girls wearing elaborate feather headdresses and sequined dresses -- sees over a thousand tourists daily, but now there are zero. Alcazar Cabaret is not planning on laying off its staff at the moment, but the foreseeable future seems bleak. Thailand depends on tourism for around 12% of its GDP, but in Pattaya, nearly the entire economy runs on visitors. The resort town saw over 15 million visitors in 2018, according to the 2019 Chonburi Provincial Statistical Report, which was already a 20% drop from the previous year. "I would say that this is the worse that has ever hit Pattaya. And, during the past two to three weeks, so much businesses has already folded, has already gone bankrupt, closed down due to the coronavirus," said Roy Fu Wanlong, a business owner in Pattaya. The city in recent years has been trying to shed its association with sex tourism that started in the 1970s when it became a rest and relaxation spot for US servicemen during the Vietnam War. The town has promoted family-friendly entertainment and boat tours in the city. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1888795/pattaya-devastated-as-coronavirus-hits-travel

Anutin's family owns a major construction company. That is what qualifies him to be Health Minister. In Thailand one's qualifications have nothing to do with the post one is assigned to. That never changes, no matter who is in charge of the government. My Mrs used to be in the secondary education supervisory unit. She said they could almost never get anything done, because with every change of government the new minister would decide to do something completely different.

Ah, in that case wind away. Life goes on. A neighbour told me the local grocery is completely out of eggs. The government has even placed a temporary ban on the export of chicken eggs. If only we'd known, we could have made money investing in them. Traffic is actually drivable downtown right now. It used to take me nearly as long to drive downtown as it did to drive to Pattaya. Now it's no more than half an hour. Quiet as can be in my area, with the restaurants and vendors closed down, plus school and universities and almost all businesses. I saw a woman selling meatballs on a stick on my soi yesterday. I hope the cops don't haul her in.

Artists pay tribute to health personnel through songs Singers are using what they do best to support the country's health personnel, the people on the front line of the war against the coronavirus. As Public Health Minister Anutin Charnveerakul lambasted Covid-19-infected doctors and nurses, saying they had not taken proper care, our singers and musicians took the opposite track. They are singing their praises. Bodyslam front man Arthiwara Kongmalai, better known as "Toon Bodyslam", on Monday kicked off the #cover19 campaign on Instagram and invited other artists to sing cover versions of any songs for doctors, nurses and other hospital staff. The artist must sing a cover version of another artist's song on any social media platform at 7pm. The artist whose song they perform has to cover a different song the next day. "We hope that our live perfomance will put a smile on their faces, more or less," Toon posted on his Instagram account. "As we are sitting comfortably at home, others are at the hospitals. They are small people, at risk while they are doing their duty for others," he said on another post. Toon started it off with Love You, Tim, a song of the Modern Dog rock band. Modern Dog lead singer Thanachai "Pod" Utchin sang a song of Anchalee Chongkhadikij, who later passed the baton to Seksan Sukpimai, better known as Sek Loso. The #cover19 is not the only project showing artists' appreciation of health workers. Su Boonliang wrote a special song, Warriors in the Gown Dress, for them from his home island of Samui. "We don't see their faces as all wear masks, but we see their big hearts behind the gown dress," he wrote. Singer Apiwat "Stamp" Ueathavornsuk also sings Dear Doctor for doctors, nurses and other hospital staff. As they all expressed their appreciation of the work being done by health personnel, the public health minister on Thursday stunned them by criticising medical staff who have been infected with the virus, accusing them of not taking good care of themselves. Mr Anutin came out hours later to offer an apology, claiming he had not listened closely to a reporter's question. On Thursday night, Toon, who earlier ran to raise money for equipment at hospitals across the country, posted another message, seeking to console all health personnel after the heart-breaking criticism by their minister. "Thank you all for what you have done for us all along," he tweeted on his @ToonArtiwara account. "Love," he wrote with a small red heart icon. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1887795/artists-pay-tribute-to-health-personnel-through-songs

Army officers sidelined over illegal boxing match that caused ‘Covid-19’ cluster The head of the army’s welfare department has been “transferred to an inactive post” along with other army brass, as an inquiry begins into a now-notorious boxing event on March 6 at the Lumphini Boxing Stadium that’s has led to scores of Covid coronavirus infections. The Royal Thai Army announced today that that Major General Rachit Arunrangsri, who was in charge of the stadium at the time the match was organised, will be side-lined at army HQ. The stadium is owned and operated by the Royal Thai Army, part of its network of commercial ventures that also includes hotels, petrol stations and golf course. The Ministry of Public Health has traced at least 150 of the 1136 people infected in Thailand so far to the match. The patients are a mix of attendees, staff, and those who came in close contact with them, and are now known as the “boxing match cluster.” The match was held despite a March 3 order by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha requiring large gatherings to be cancelled or postponed. The holding of the event could thus be deemed a violation of a government order. Yesterday the the army’s commander-in-chief, Apirat Kongsompong, ordered the head of the Army Personnel Department to form a committee to investigate the holding of the boxing event. According to the army regulations, the key person running the stadium must be removed to headquarters in order to pave the way for the committee to investigate. An informed army source says the transfers will enable the probe to proceed smoothly. Apirat has assured that the investigation will be transparent and straightforward. Rachit himself is being treated at Phramongkutklao Hospital, after he was infected with the virus. Last month the head of the Army said that they are overhauling the Royal Thai Army’s business interests that may be in conflict with their duties to serve the nation. https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/army-officers-sidelined-over-illegal-boxing-match-that-caused-covid-19-cluster

UPDATE: 91 new coronavirus cases, 1 more death in Thailand (Friday March 27) Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health and Department of Disease Control and confirmed a 91 new cases of the the Covid19 coronavirus at their daily press briefing this morning (March 27). There was also an additional death reported. The new numbers bring the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 1136 and deaths to 5. Two Thais have also died in the past two day in New York. The Ministry outlined details of the new cases… Group 1: Connected with previous confirmed cases… 5 from the “boxing match cluster” 7 from a nightclub cluster 18 people who are close contacts with previous confirmed cases Group 2: New cases… 10 people back from abroad (9 Thais and 1 foreigner, most intervened at airport screenings) 5 individuals who were working with many people, primarily foreigners 46 cases who are being identified and traced The new death was a patient in the southern Narathiwat province. Meanwhile two Thai nationals living in New York have died in the past two days. The Thai Foreign Ministry reports the Thai consulate general reported that a 50 year old man working as a mechanic in Queens Borough died on Wednesday. Another 50 year old, working as a chef in a Thai restaurant in Manhattan died yesterday. The two deaths took the number of Thai dying from Covid-19 in the US to three. https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/cv19-asia/cv19-thailand/91-new-coronavirus-cases-1-more-death-in-thailand-friday-march-27

Poorest hit hard as virus brings society to its knees After a long wait, the government has finally come up with relief packages to ease the plight of business operators and those losing their jobs due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The government, which has also declared a state of emergency in the hope that it can streamline and improve its performance in the fight against the virus, has been slammed for its sluggishness in handling the crisis since the first case was detected in mid-January. The number of infections soared to more than 1,000 as of yesterday. The government is planning to provide 5,000-baht cash giveaways to temporary employees, contract staff and self-employed individuals in the so-called informal sector, which comprises at least 3 million people. Registration of eligible recipients is set to begin tomorrow. The government has said it will earmark 50 billion baht from the central budget to fund this cash handout, which will last for three months. State-owned banks have also been instructed to provide soft loans to business operators who have encountered an economic crunch during this difficult time. The government was compelled to issue the packages after the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) declared the shutdown of shopping malls and markets, entertainment places, and services like massage shops, hair salons, for three weeks in a move to combat the contagion. All restaurants and eateries have been ordered to close down seating areas and only provide takeaways. Such swift measures has seen several businesses downsize or even collapse, with a large number of workers losing their jobs, while the self-employed faced abrupt cash shortages. Needless to say, these measures are making things difficult for those who have no economic cushion compared to those in the formal sector, such as salaried people, who are covered by some kind of social security and can wait until the economy picks up. No doubt, the shutdown has prompted an exodus, as these people have gone back to their hometown where they can find family support. But there's a backlash, as virus hotspots have expanded. Nutchanart Taentong, chair of the Four Regions Slum Network, said most members of the network in 58 slums in Greater Bangkok earn daily wages, working as cleaners, waiting staff in restaurants and parking attendants in entertainment venues. Shutting down these places automatically strips many of their jobs as employers cannot afford to pay them during the three-week break. Prospects are also dim because it is not clear how long this virus will haunt us and, even if scientists do find a vaccine, it will still take some time before the bruised economy can make a turnaround. Salaried people have money to buy and stock food during shutdown, though most people are struggling to make ends meet. Life is already tough for those living on daily wages, not to mention the exorbitant interest rates they have to pay to loan sharks. These people have no way of benefiting from the so-called soft loans or the debt moratorium promised by the government, Ms Nutchanart said. "Very few slum members have bank accounts. Some may be part of a housing programme with the Community Development Organisation Institute and we will have to ask the agency to delay the payment of instalments," she said. The activist added that it would be helpful if the authorities intervened and stopped the hoarding of food and necessities. "We need also need help with utility bills, which are a big burden. As is widely known, we in slum communities pay higher rates than city residents." Slum dwellers also have to sew their own masks as it is either rare to find one in the market or they are not affordable, she said, adding "we will die, not from the virus, but from economic hardship". Ms Nutchanart also pointed out that homeless people are the most vulnerable group during this crisis. Before this, homeless people would gather in specific places like Hua Lamphong train station for free food. However, since the outbreak, the food being handed out has fallen substantially, as giveaways from Chinese shrines have become zero. Kannikar Pujani, coordinator for a homeless people's network, said those living on the street are the hardest hit because they face the greatest risk of infection. "At night, they have to stick together, because it's not safe for them to be on their own," she said. They expect little from the government because they know they always slip through the cracks of society, she said. The authorities tend to put them in welfare homes and they don't want that. They prefer to be part of a project run by activists in Bangkok Noi, but the site is already full. They hope this project can be expanded, Ms Kannikar said. The outbreak has also badly hit the informal group, such as taxi drivers and subcontractors in the garment industry, said Sujin Rungsawang, a coordinator for a network of informal workers. Workers in the entertainment sector, in particular, have been devastated by the shutting down of pubs and bars. However, Ms Sujin said she hopes that once the pandemic is over, the government will create new jobs for them, like getting garment subcontractors to make school uniforms instead of importing cheap clothing from China. However, the one group that will be left out in the cold are sex workers. How can they gain access to state assistance? Chantawipa Apisuk of Empower Group said this group lost their jobs as soon as the government shut down pubs and bars. Normally they get no help from the state, and they don't dare hope the state will reach out to them. These people have played a big part in making Thailand's tourism industry a big success, yet nobody will help them during this difficult time, the activist said, adding that sex workers are different from farmers or factory workers who are typically covered by state assistance schemes. This vulnerable group is large, yet their voices remain unheard. We can only wait and see if the government keeps its promise of providing financial packages to as many people as possible. https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1887545/poorest-hit-hard-as-virus-brings-society-to-its-knees

I bow to your superior knowledge of the USA. My family has only been living there since the early 17th century (except for a few later immigrants and a Native American or two back in the 1600s). BTW ... Red Neck derives from coal mine strikes long ago, when the striking miners wore red scarves and the "scabs" did not. So your evil red necks were in fact proletarian workers struggling against the wealthy mine owners. End of history lesson. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25474784?seq=1

I've actually had one friend post on Face Book that the virus wouldn't even be happening if it weren't for Trump. Yep, damn that Trump! Everything bad that happens anywhere in the world is Trump's fault. If Hillary had been elected, we would all be living in the Garden of Eden again.

I was dosed up regularly with anti-malarial drugs in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, since I my battalion was right in the middle of the main area of the disease's infections. Does that mean I'm protected from the un-Chinese virus? Be nice if it did, but I rather doubt it. Meanwhile, we're number one! Coronavirus: US overtakes China with most cases https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52056586 However, notice something: "The US now has more confirmed cases of coronavirus than any other country, with more than 85,500 positive tests. "According to the latest figures collated by Johns Hopkins University, the US has overtaken China (81,782 cases) and Italy (80,589). "But with almost 1,300 Covid-19-related fatalities, the US death toll lags behind China (3,291) and Italy (8,215)." It's shocking that US deaths lag so far behind. Damn those US MDs.

Blaming America: China Weaponizes Misinformation About COVID-19 As of March 23, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, there are 353,692 people infected with the novel coronavirus, officially known as SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, worldwide. A total of 15,430 have died, while 100,443 people have recovered. In the United States, the number of cases has reached 35,345 with 459 deaths. In addition to the human suffering, the pandemic has produced worldwide economic dislocations that have led to chaotic, and plunging, financial markets' dropping economic output; and burgeoning unemployment. World trade and associated global supply chains have been disrupted. The net result is a deepening sense of fear and anxiety around the world. The crisis has also given rise to an enormous amount of deliberate misinformation about the crisis, its origins and its eventual consequences. Some of that misinformation is fueled by fear and ignorance -- some by crasser financial motives. In the case of China, Russia and several other countries, however, misinformation is deliberately being spread by state media to deflect criticisms of their government actions, or lack thereof, and to push the blame onto someone else. Misinformation is also being weaponized as part of a broader foreign policy agenda that seeks to secure national advantage from the COVID-19 pandemic. Weaponizing Misinformation Every tragedy requires a culprit. Even so-called acts of God, like floods, earthquakes or disease outbreaks, invariably produce a culprit -- a badly designed building that collapsed; a dam that wasn't probably maintained; or civil administrators who were unprepared, failed to act or responded incompetently. It is a deeply rooted human tendency to find someone to blame when things go wrong, a fact long understood and exploited by tort lawyers. It should not be a surprise, then, that the finger pointing has already begun in earnest. The coronavirus' origins are still unknown. The fact that the outbreak occurred in Wuhan, the city that hosts China's only Level IV biomedical laboratory for dealing with infectious diseases, has fueled countless conspiracy theories that the virus is manmade and that somehow it "escaped" from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The available evidence suggests that the origin of COVID-19 is consistent with the origin of other coronaviruses, including those that led to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS) in 2002-2004 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012-2014, and which every year lead to the development of several new strains of influenza. There is no evidence that the coronavirus is a man-made bio-weapon that somehow escaped from a research lab. On the other hand, the evidence that East Asia has been at the center of successive epidemics of diseases linked to the coronavirus is clear and unmistakable. Since 1957, there have been more than a dozen major coronavirus-linked infections that have emerged, almost all of them from East Asia. Several of them have reached pandemic proportions. The 1957 Asian flu (H2N2) pandemic was responsible for the deaths of approximately 2 million people. Other pandemics were caused by the 1968 Hong Kong Flu, H3N2, (1 million deaths) and the 2009 Swine flu, H1N1, (500,000 deaths). In addition, there have been three major outbreaks of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that are linked to coronaviruses: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2004, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012-2014 and COVID-19. Only the COVID-19 outbreak rose to the level of a pandemic. The good news is that these sort of outbreaks have happened before. The bad news is that these types of outbreaks will happen again. China Blames America Early on, Chinese state media suggested that the U.S. was responsible for the outbreak, and that it was an attempt by the U.S. to cripple the Chinese economy. Much the same thing happened during the SARS epidemic, leading to a deluge of conspiracy theories across Chinese social media sites that the virus was a CIA creation. In late January, a Chinese military website, Xilu, which is owned and funded by China's Ministry of Defense, claimed that the coronavirus had been specifically engineered by the U.S. to target people of Han Chinese ancestry. The Han represent some 99% of China's population. Supposedly, according to Xilu, the virus was introduced into Wuhan by American servicemen participating in the Military World Games in October 2019. The report claimed that the "poor performance of the American athletes" was evidence that they were not in fact athletes but "biowarfare operatives." Since late February, Chinese state media has shifted tack, arguing that "the virus may have first appeared in China but that did not mean that it had originated or been created there." In the meantime, Chinese media have been emphasizing China's "heroic actions" in fighting the pandemic, describing its actions when the outbreak emerged as a "selfless sacrifice to buy the world more time." Beijing has also cracked down on the western media, limiting their ability to report on the coronavirus pandemic in China. Reporters from The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among others, have been expelled. Additionally, Chinese natives who have been working for foreign news bureaus have been dismissed by the Chinese government. The Chinese press has extensively covered the spread of the coronavirus around the world, pointing out other countries' failure to contain the virus, in particular Italy and Spain. They continue to stress the foreign origins of the virus. The consistent talking points across a broad number of media underscore that this is a widespread media campaign to shift blame away from the Chinese government. Beijing has also continued to allow conspiracy theories that blame the U.S. to proliferate uncensored on Chinese social media. Beijing's censors are usually quick to delete comments that vary with the government's official position. The extent and continued presence of these conspiracy theories on Chinese social media represents a tacit endorsement by Beijing. Likewise, Chinese media have been quick to label references to the "Chinese virus" or the "Wuhan flu" as racist and xenophobic -- a charge that has been echoed uncritically by certain elements of the American media. The search for a cure, either in the form of a vaccine or a drug regime that will mitigate the worst effects of COVID-19, has become the latest geopolitical arena between China and the U.S. Both countries are rushing to find a cure so they can take credit for "saving" the rest of the world. Europe has also emerged as the main arena where the Sino-American propaganda war is playing out. Beijing banned the export of most crucial medical supplies to the U.S., including face masks, testing swabs, hand sanitizer and surgical gowns. The ubiquitous N95 masks, for which China is the world's leading supplier, were reserved almost exclusively for Chinese customers. In the meantime, however, both Chinese and European media outlets have been trumpeting Chinese aid in the form of the same badly needed medical supplies to European countries. In some cases, this aid is taking the form of "gifts" from leading Chinese companies like Huawei to their European business partners. Russia is following suit. According to Reuters, following a Saturday telephone call between Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Defense Ministry announced "that military transport planes would deliver eight mobile brigades of military medics, special disinfection vehicles and other medical equipment to Italy from Sunday." Russian state media has also been quick to take up and amplify the conspiracy theories from China. Multiple Russian media outlets have echoed the claim that the coronavirus is an American-designed bio-weapon intended to cripple the Chinese economy. Zvevda, a news outlet controlled and funded by the Russian Ministry of Defense, for example, published an article, "Coronavirus: American Biological Warfare Against Russia and China," which claimed the virus was intended to weaken the Chinese economy in order to increase American leverage during the next round of trade talks. Numerous Russian politicians, most notably ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, have echoed those claims, blaming the Pentagon as the source of the coronavirus. The Russian misinformation campaign has also taken the form of widespread inflammatory comments on social media by thousands of accounts believed to be Russian controlled, designed to stoke public fear about the virus and its effects. On Feb. 22, the U.S. State Department accused Russia of an "intent to sow discord and undermine U.S. institutions and alliances from within by spreading disinformation about coronavirus." In many cases, Russian agents are, in a technique honed during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, simply amplifying and endorsing comments that are already circulating on social media and that often originated in the U.S. In this way, "fringe" comments that might otherwise have received little exposure get far broader circulation, building momentum and often become "trending" enough to attract the attention of the national media. It should be noted, however, that Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites claim they cannot find evidence of a deliberate Russian disinformation campaign. The Kremlin has labeled the State Department charges "a deliberate false story." Not surprisingly, Iranian state media has largely echoed Chinese and Russian stories blaming the U.S. for developing coronavirus and using it as a bioweapon. Tehran has claimed that the virus is part of the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign against the Iranian government. The Iranian government has pushed for the elimination of American sanctions against Iran in response to the disease outbreak. Similar sentiments have cropped up in Venezuelan media and elsewhere. The use of disinformation as a propaganda tool, and as an instrument of foreign policy, is nothing new. The Soviets were masters of it and employed it extensively during the Cold War to shape and create anti-American sentiments around the world. The advent of social media, however, has made this a far more potent weapon. Not only does it allow foreign countries to speak directly to Americans, but the freewheeling and uncensored nature of the Internet means that, in many cases, it can also serve to heighten and fan societal divisions and, in particular, fears and anxieties. This is hardly the first time that America's adversaries have looked to blame it for their own shortcomings and problems, or have sought to capitalize on America's own problems and fears to their advantage. What the coronavirus does underscore is how prevalent such tactics have become and how even a global medical crisis can be used by an opponent to its advantage. The Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on China's Future Beijing has good reason to try to deflect the blame for the outbreak. For now, governments around the world have their hands full dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no question however that the epidemic started in China, as have many of the coronavirus-linked influenza and ARDS disease outbreaks over the last half century. It's equally clear that Chinese authorities suppressed information of the outbreak, initially denied the Centers for Disease Control and other national health authorities around the world access to samples, critical information about the disease pathogen and the pattern of disease transmission and were in general slow to advise the rest of the world on the outbreak. The question of whether and, if so, how Beijing should be held responsible for the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is not one that world leaders want to deal with currently. The question has come up at the daily White House briefings on several occasions and was deflected by President Donald Trump. Several members of Congress have already suggested that the U.S. Treasury should unilaterally cancel a trillion dollars of U.S. government debt held by China's central bank to offset the costs of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. It's not clear whether the U.S. government could unilaterally cancel a portion of its debt held by foreign entities. Such a move would certainly roil financial markets and damage the standing of U.S. government debt. On the other hand, there are clearly going to be consequences to China from how Beijing has dealt with the outbreak. Many companies have been reevaluating their dependence on China-centered global supply chains as a result of the trade war between Washington and Beijing. The realization that those supply chains are also vulnerable to disease outbreaks in East Asia is another strong reason to diversify global supply chains away from China. Secondly, it is likely that at some point the Trump administration will intensify its efforts to get American companies to repatriate their manufacturing and cut their ties with foreign suppliers of critical items. Medical supplies and equipment, antibiotics and key components of essential drugs are all likely to be targeted with tax incentives, enabling legislation and/or grants to encourage or even force their manufacturing back to the U.S. Ditto for many other products and industries where repatriation will be seen as a national security issue. It's likely that the Defense Department and defense contractors will be further mandated to seek out American suppliers for the hundreds of billions of dollars of goods they purchase. Other government departments won't be far behind. Expect renewed pressure on China and other Asian countries to do away with so-called "wet markets" where live animals, both wild and domestic, are sold for human consumption. China banned wet markets during the 2002-2004 SARS crisis but allowed them to resume when the crisis ended. This may also lead to a broader reform of factory farming around the world and more stringent regulations on the use of antibiotics on farm animals. It's also likely that some kind of medical screening will become standard for incoming passengers on overseas flights to the U.S., especially for those passengers arriving from countries that have wet markets. It may be nothing more than a temperature check initially, with a more rigorous regime as back up whenever major disease outbreaks occur elsewhere in the world. In a broad sense, Beijing's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is no different than how it has handled other disease outbreaks in the past. In fact, notwithstanding its initial reluctance to share information, Chinese authorities were probably more open in this instance then they have been in the past, even if they fell short of what was necessary. The problem is that China plays a different role in the world today than it did 50 years ago. Given that role, its centrality to world manufacturing output and the significant presence of Chinese citizens around the world, the consequences of anything less than immediate and complete transparency when disease outbreaks occur are far graver on the rest of the world. When China emerged from behind the "bamboo curtain," the presumption was that it would become more like the rest of the world -- that over time, Beijing's authoritarianism would give way to more open, freer markets and civil society. Instead, Beijing has been pushing the rest of the world to become more like China. The rest of the world, beginning with the U.S., is going to be pushing back hard. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/03/23/blaming-america-china-weaponizes-misinformation-about-covid-19.html?fbclid=IwAR01LaQBnz43jYK1_fazaHvqbj5XMLEcYoqFrIJlsuCgIRbZMtwMiQ2rQEE

You can protest, as long as you do so in groups of less than one. Meanwhile ... Under the state of emergency which went into effect around Thailand last night, the military has set up 357 checkpoints to monitor interprovincial travel in an additional measure to fight the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. A statement said the checkpoints are in response to the PM tasking the military command with supervising security measures. The checkpoints are manned by soldiers, police and civil servants, checking travellers for symptoms of the virus and behaviour leading to the risk of transmission, according to the statement. People at risk of infection or transmission will be kept at “appropriate locations.” In Bangkok the checkpoints are on Chaeng Watthana Road near Klong Prapa canal, Suwinthawong Road, Kanchanaphisek 39 frontage road, Sukhumvit Road at the BTS Bearing station, Rachaphruek Road in Taling Chan district, Suksawat Road under Bhumibol Bridge and Rama II Soi 92 Road. https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/military-checkpoints-set-up-to-monitor-domestic-travel

If the virus outbreak had begun in the USA and then spread to other countries, do you really believe people wouldn't be calling it the American virus? It doesn't matter where the pangolins and bats came from, since they don't seem to be posing a threat anywhere else. The virus takes its name from where it began - in Wuhan. "To single out an "other" as a focus for Nationalistic politicking, is a common ruse, used by the ignorant and insecure." Which is exactly what CCP spokesman Zhao Lijian did when he claimed the Americans had sneaked it into China and it they are the ones to blame. It's called politics.

The most they'll do is fine you 2,000 baht if you don't report. I met a guy from the Bangkok Post who told me he never bothered with reporting. He'd just pay the 2,000 baht fine at each visa renewal.

Thanks. The photos of Chaengwattana right now look like total chaos. Wouldn't it have been easier and simpler just to announce that everyone on a tourist visa will be allowed a 30 day overstay without being fined? Hell, make it 60 days. There aren't even any flights toleave the country.