Tuesday, March 24, 2020

COVID-19 - Third Update from ThaiSmiths

Hello again from Nai Yang, Thailand.


A perfect day at the Dewa, but nobody is poolside.


March 24


So much can happen so quickly. Since my last blog entry, England has shut down. The BBC had this headline on March 24: “Johnson announces strict new curbs on life in UK”.
Five hours earlier the CBC had this headline: “Ontario, Quebec order closure of all non-essential businesses to slow spread of coronavirus”.
For us, here in Nai Yang, life has changed incrementally. Darrel still goes out to deliver and pick up our laundry and to get Pad Thai from a road-side stand. But now he wears his mask. We still go for our morning bike rides, but we wear our masks.
We wear our masks because, reportedly, the Thais are all wearing masks and foreigners are not, and that perception is making some Thai officials angry. We did notice that all the Thai joggers along our bike route today were not wearing masks. We may have jumped the gun, but will continue to wear the masks to make sure we don’t alarm any of the villagers.
This morning we were going to invite a friend over for coffee, thought about it for a moment, and then decided, “Nah”. We chatted on the phone and ensured that we would be there for each other should there be a need.
We have noticed that nowadays our grocery delivery is later than requested and we even got a bit annoyed yesterday when it was over six hours late. Then we took a breath and remembered what extreme measures everyone is taking to make sure all of us stay fed.
This morning we noticed a sign by our pool. It has been closed due to a government order. The gym is still open, though. We use neither during the high season, so weren’t alarmed by either observation.

"Swimming Pool is Closed".

Loretta poolside with a mask on, capturing Darrel on camera.

Darrel practicing social-distancing.

The Dewa Resort is emptying out. Thailand is making it nearly impossible for anyone to come here. Health certificates are required for entry and they must be recent - no older than 72 hours. We think that is a good move right now but our hearts bleed for all the Thais who are in the tourism industry.

Only a few occupants at the Dewa Residences.
We continue to watch news from all over. Our favorite source is still CBC, but we watch BBC and CNN too. I get a number of news reports from my Facebook feed – New York Times, Economist, Globe and Mail, and of course all my friends. I continue to block most sources because some of the stuff is just too weird. But I was hugely impressed by the graph that showed the trajectory of the new cases. Impressed but scared too.


The English news reporting in Thailand is pretty decent. We have to be careful to not overreact to anything until we can verify it.  But we still react – thus the voluntary self-isolation and the masks.



Hey, aren't you supposed to be six feet apart!?

March 25

What a difference a day makes.  Here is what’s new since I wrote the above:
The Olympic Games have been postponed. Canada pulled out before the announcement was made.
Our Thailand province of Phuket has declared a full lock-down of everything but essential services.
Thailand has declared a state of emergency.
Today we didn’t go for our bike ride. We will wait to see how everyone is reacting before we head out again. In the meantime, we have our balcony and our roof-top deck to enjoy fresh air. I haven’t told Darrel yet, but we will double our daily yoga exercise time. We will try to order pizza today – Darrel needs the occasional break from my cooking – and we hope that goes well. If not, we have a stash of instant noodles we can use as backup.
Three nephews have birthdays today. We wonder how they will celebrate.

I tried to find funny things on Facebook to end with, and could find only one. Here it is (thanks, Barb):



That’s it for now. Take care. Loretta & Darrel.



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