Here's what is happening in Thailand as far as Covid is concerned

A few days ago some cases were found in mostly Bangkok. The government immediately claimed to have contact traced the people responsible band blamed it on "young people visiting nightclubs" and then proceeded to close all nightclubs and bars in 41 provinces around the country. They are allowing restaurants to remain open but are banning the sale of alcohol at said restaurants. Why? Is booze what is causing the spread of Covid?

src

Now on a side note I want to say this: Thailand has some of the most bizarre alcohol laws in the world that I have seen already anyway. Not only is there a stoppage point in the night time (which is largely ignored all around the country) but there is also a very late starting point in the morning (11am) and also 3 hours in the afternoon where you can't buy alcohol (2-5pm). I have heard various justifications for this but no one really has a sensible answer. There are also a myriad of days throughout the year that you are not allowed to drink because of some religious reason and booze sales are also banned the night before and the day of elections..... because they don't want you to be too drunk to vote I guess.

But in the case of anything Covid related, the first thing that the Thai government does is blame foreigners, mostly the Burmese that they have hated since forever because of some wars that happened like 800 years ago. The next group they blame is tourists, only tourists haven't been allowed in the country for over a year so they can't blame that. Next they blame booze. It doesn't matter what the issue is, that is the way it goes.

They wouldn't dream of blaming the fact that 1 person .... ONE PERSON died in a Bangkok hospital who was in their 80's and they did a PCR test and of course it finds Covid because that is that that test does especially in the case of someone that doesn't know WTF they are doing. They then freak out and do some selective mass testing, once again probably improperly, and find a few more cases. Then they point the finger at whatever the "problem of the week" happens to be and shut things down. They've run out of foreigners to blame so they have to move to things that are considered "sinful" despite the fact that the dear leaders also engage in these activities... just at far fancier establishments.

My friend summed this process up, which has happened many times in Thailand already, perfectly in the following statement.

one case. panic. test. find more. panic more. stop testing. tell public under control. wait 2 months. repeat.

And this is exactly what we are seeing right now for like the 5th time in a row. Some private hospitals have even stopped testing anyone that comes in already out of fear that the numbers will pump and cause even more panic. Actually, as I mentioned before this is more likely a cost thing as private hospitals that are for profit do not want to get stuck with massive bills from people that can not afford to pay the bill.

In a few weeks the panic will go away and the Prime Minister, who is wildly unpopular, is going to take credit for saving the lives of millions, and also claim it is only because of his swift action that the clubs and bars are allowed to open again.

I want to once again point out that shopping malls, which at any point in time have FAR MORE people in them than your average bar, are still up and running at 100% capacity. Funny how that works huh?