Serious Covid Surges & Restrictions

Bangkok and major provinces surrounding it (such as mine) are now experiencing real pandemic deep shit.  The Covid-19 virus – and especially its Delta variant – is surging, with record numbers of infections and deaths here.  Vastly more than all of 2020’s casualties combined.  It’s bad.  And the vaccination programs here are scandalously slow, ill-conceived and uniformly bungled up – a total embarrassment. 

From this weekend, we are under a curfew: from about 20:00 hours (8pm) to 04:00, and people must stay home unless for absolute emergencies.  Supermarkets and neighborhood convenience stores are by necessity open, but they have more restricted hours, so I am able to get to them for food, either by taxi (in the case of supermarkets) or by trekking on foot to the local neighborhood stores to fill my backpack.  All malls are closed except for their pharmacies, supermarkets, electronic-communications stores, and take-out services from restaurants.  Most everything must close at 20:00 hours.   

But if the government tries to outlaw the total purchase of alcohol – like they did for ten days in the April 2020 lockdown – I fear there will be a revolution, because folks here are really pissed. 

As for my own chances of getting vaccinated soon:  not good.  It is an absurdly incompetent roll-out.  The Thai government is offering free Covid vaccinations – mostly the Chinese vaccines, which no one has much confidence in – but they are so limited in supply that they are gone in an instant.  These and other, more respected, vaccines are promised with numerous websites dedicated to pre-registering for them, but the websites freeze up due to incredibly heavy demand, and pre-register slots are gone immediately.  Then there was the special government-run website for expats’ vaccinations, which was quickly hacked, with registered participants’ data leaked.  Bungle in the jungle.  Again.

Tuk has tried to register her parents and I for Moderna vaccine when it will be (hopefully) available in October at a private hospital for a fee.  She wants an additional jab of this for herself, since she only had the Chinese Sinovac jabs.  She apparently got us registered and paid for – yet I think the hospital registered more shots than they are scheduled to receive.  We’ll see. 

In more upbeat news, the Rainy Season has clouded the skies more, and, even though it is still hot and humid, there is not as much constant sun to fry us as there was in the March-May Hot Season.  The rain and more frequent breezes are refreshing. 

And I am grateful to Amazon for creating their Kindle and providing opportunities to download eBooks easily, books I would otherwise be unable to find.  And Netflix lets me see movies I originally missed and cannot otherwise find (although their movie selection here is not as wide as in the USA).  Spotify lets me find any music I could possibly want to search for, and they help me explore new music.  In the balance: Life is Good. 

-Zenwind. 

.