Slowly Re-Opening Society

This week, Thailand entered another measured, two-week, carefully phased, partial re-opening of the lockdown we have been under for so long.  Malls and department stores are now open, under strict social-distancing rules, and of course everyone wears a mask, everywhere.  We’ll see how this goes.  Pubs, cinemas, and sports venues are still closed.  (Boxing stadiums had some of the worst super-spreader hotspots here during the early phase of the pandemic.) 

After the previous two-week phase of re-opening, there was still a continuing decline in rates of Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.  The number of corona virus deaths in Thailand since the very beginning of this epidemic have only been 56 total thus far, despite the fact that Thailand had the first confirmed infection outside China back in January.  One death statistic has up-ticked – since the recent relaxation of travel restrictions, the Thai highway death toll has shot up in the direction of its gruesome normal.  We consistently have one of the highest per capita road death rates in the world (one year Thailand came in second only to Libya, and they were having a raging civil war at the time).  

Today I went by taxi to my Immigration Office on business, and the roads were thankfully not too crowded.  In the big room at immigration, there were only a dozen people, all spread out and masked.  People seem even more polite than the traditional Thai norm these days. 

I have stayed in my home neighborhood and rarely venture out.  For one thing, it is still too damned hot to go anywhere.  100*F everyday with wilting humidity.  I try to go out and am blinded by stinging sweat in my eyes.  May the cooling rains come!  Soon! 

-Zenwind. 

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