This is my entry for #thaiphotocontest62 hosted by @thaiteam on the theme of Covid19 and its impact. I just heard on the news that curfew has been announced in Bangkok; it will start today from 10pm to 4am. So, people in Bangkok have better be prepared for the curfew tonight! Back to my story: the railway has shut down most of the trains traveling to the south of Thailand and has extended the shut down to the north-eastern trains as well. So, I had to go there to return my tickets.
To my surprise, I was stopped from entering the station hallway! There was a table manned by three officers with facial masks, with thermometers in hands. They told me to put on a mask or else no entry! I told them that it’s in my bag but my hands were dirty so I did not want to touch it. They gave me some alcohol gel for sanitising my hands. Then, I put on my facial mask which made me feel very uncomfortable! I really never like to wear mask! I thought I didn’t need it at all. Later on, I realised that it could safe myself from other infected but asymtomatic persons.
The railway station looked very strange; there were tables and chairs for people to fill in forms about their journey so that they could be located later in case they had to be in quarantine. Serious looking officers were making sure people put on their masks. The gap between people on line was indicated by the colour tape on the floor, about one meter apart. Seatings were also marked for more space between people. All these well laid out structures of social distancing seemed a bit threatening to me at first. There has been a sudden increase in number of infected people and dead people too. I could see that these people were quite afraid of catching this coronavirus and the pain of dying from Covid19.
วันนี้เราพึ่งรู้ว่ามีการประกาศให้มีเคอร์ฟิวในกรุงเทพ ตั้งแต่เวลา 4ทุ่มถึงตี4 เริ่มคืนนี้เลย คนที่อยู่ในกรุงเทพต้องปรับแผนการเดินทางวันนี้ทันที ตัวเลขคนที่คิดเชื้อไวรัสโคโรนายังไม่นิ่งเลย มีแต่ขยายมากขึ้น และคนตายมากขึ้นด้วย ทำให้ต้องหาทางให้คนอยู่กับบ้านมากขึ้น นอกจากการปิดสถาที่ต่างๆที่มีคนไปใช้กันมากๆแล้ว ยังมีการหยุดเดินรถไฟไปภาคใต้ทั้งหมด ตามด้วยรถไฟสานอีสาน เราจึงต้องไปสถานีหัวลำโพง เพื่อคืนตั๋วรถไฟก่อนวันเดินทาง เรารู้สึกแปลกๆกับความเปลี่ยนแปลงที่นั่น เราถูกห้ามไม่ให้ผ่านเข้าไปในสถานี เพราะเราไม่ได้ใส่หน้ากาก เราคิดว่าไม่จำเป็นเพราะแทบไม่มีคนในสถานี แต่เราฝ่ากฎเข้าไปไม่ได้ เราก็ขอเจลล้างมือก่อน เพื่อจะได้จับหน้ากากผ้ามาใส่ได้ ข้างในสถานีมีเจ้าหน้าที่หลายคน คอยดูแลผู้คนให้นั่งห่างกันตามทีกำหนดไว้ และให้ยืนห่างกันหนึ่งเมตรด้วย มีโต๊ะให้คนเขียนว่าจะเดินทางไปไหน และรายละเอียดต่างๆเพื่อไว้ตามตัว ในกรณีที่ต้องไปกักตัวภายหลัง นี่แสดงให้เห็นว่า เรื่องนี้ใหญ่มาก มีคนติดเชื้อเยอะมาก จนทางการกลัวว่าจะเอาไม่อยู่และคนจะตายกันมากขึ้น คงกลัวว่าจะเป็นแบบอิตาลี
In the beginning, the number of infected people was very low in Thailand. Thai officials were very alert on the prevention measures and on identifying early infected people at the airports. Fortunately, Thais have been wearing protective masks against nano dust pollution and smog since last year. That’s why there weren’t any infected vendors at popular Chinese sightseeing spots in Bangkok. The trouble started, as I had predicted, when rich people and film stars went for their winter holidays in Japan and South Korea in last December. They came back with the coronavirus! Several rich people and film stars have been sick on hospitals, non has been discharged so far!! Furthermore, high ranking military officer did not obey the lockdown and proceeded with the intended boxing matches. This incident has created several super spreaders who traveled to various provinces. All up all, that alone resulted in over two hundred infected people who had to be in quarantine. That high ranking officer has remained in hospital for almost two weeks now. I couldn’t find out what has happened to this case.
Yesterday the news about top Thai executives of a multinational company got infected with coronavirus after traveling to clinch a big business deal in London. The sad thing is that the heat scanner cannot pick out infected persons during their first week of infection. So, they passed the screening at the airport and consequently infected the wives and all their colleagues. Had they been wearing masks while talking to people, things would have been very different. Wearing mask really protect other people from catching the virus if you happen to be asymptomatic. One executive died within a week after hospital admission. Others are still in hospitals. So, I have decided to wear my mask when walking in public places, even though I really don’t like it at all. I could see people looking at me with fear when seeing me without a mask!!
Wishing you peace, good health and safety.
Cheers.