OPINION

Breeding grounds

It looks like the government is asking everyone to take steps to stop the spread of Covid-19. Everyone except the Immigration department, that is. Mass gatherings are to be avoided, yet Immigration herds hundreds of people into its offices every single day.

Some government officials blame foreigners for the spread of Covid-19, yet foreigners are amassed five days a week and then sent back out onto the streets.

What is the Immigration department going to do to alleviate this problem? Probably nothing, because foreigners are cash cows and who cares if one of them gets Covid-19?

After all, they are making a big deal about foreigners having insurance, and foreigners are "rich".

Maybe a foreigner who contracts Covid-19 from going to an Immigration office should sue Immigration for being forced to enter an unsafe area.

A quick internet search shows that a test for Covid-19 virus can cost anything between 3,000 and 18,000 baht.

How can the authorities expect ordinary citizens to be able to afford this?

In many cases, it's not just one person in a family that will need to be tested. A single round of tests for a small family could wipe out their monthly earnings and more. Shocking!

Swine flu, bird flu, Sars and now the novel coronavirus never would have happened if people didn't eat animals. (May I remind readers again that Covid-19 originated from a meat market in China.)

Is it fair that my life has to be constantly disrupted due to the selfish dietary choices of others?

Incidentally, over the past 30 years as a vegetarian, I haven't caught the flu even once and do not require vaccinations.

Re: "Turn up the heat", (PostBag, Mar 17).

A moment's reflection should be enough to reject the theory that the novel coronavirus cannot survive temperatures of more than 27 degrees Celsius. If this were true there would be no cases in the warmer parts of Thailand and other tropical countries apart from those involving infected travellers from abroad.

This and many other false, misleading claims that have been circulating on social media for a while appear to have no scientific backing.

It may be the case that transmission is slower in hot temperatures for a variety of reasons, as with the ordinary seasonal flu, but that is all.

If I am in an open-air restaurant or bar close to an infected person who coughs or sneezes, I would not consider myself protected because the outside temperature is 30 degrees.

Re: "Govt steps up virus fight", (BP, Mar 16).

This article tells how the government is dedicating a newly built 2-billion-baht hospital to treatment of Covid-19 patients.

The editorial, "SET fund a step too far", on the same day informs us that the government is considering a 100-billion-baht fund to shore up the stock exchange. Given that there is a worldwide slump, one might question the impact of such a fund.

Also, around 40% of SET investments come from foreign investors, while the rest come from the wealthiest Thais.

So the government has to decide how it can put its limited resources to best use. A fund that gives short-term support for the wealth or 50 new hospitals that will last for decades?