Rise in holiday travel matches rise in severe Covid infections

The 5-day holiday weekend is driving up tourism numbers, but there also seems to be a rise in patients with severe Covid-19 infections that the Department of Disease Control says will likely increase from holiday travel. This warning came from the epidemiology director of the DDC, who laid out increases in severe coronavirus infections as well as those who require to be on a ventilator.

Two weeks ago, 638 people were considered to have severe infections with lung inflammation and 290 people required a ventilator. On Sunday that number had risen to 786 severe infections and 349 people on ventilators. The director said that these numbers are in line with the increase in overall Covid infections.

He warns that a long holiday with people travelling all over the country could create problems for outbreaks that are now generally contained to certain provinces but may be spread as holiday-goers cross provincial borders and interact during sightseeing, shopping, partying, and other vacation activities.

“New infections are increasing in Greater Bangkok and major tourism provinces… Several periods of long holidays this month may spread the infections faster. The growing number of patients with lung inflammation can impact the supply of beds and medicine needed for treatment. People can help by strictly protecting themselves from the disease.”

This worrisome Covid-19 advisory is not what the people of Thailand, or even the government, want to hear for a week expecting to generate hundreds of millions, if not billions, of baht in tourism revenue. The Ministry of Public Health says that healthcare systems can still handle the uptick in coronavirus infections so they will not raise their Covid alert above Level 2 to allow economic growth.

The DDC epidemiology director seems to agree, pointing out that during the Delta variant peak of the pandemic, medical facilities handled thousands of people on ventilators and with severe Covid infections. He said hospitals can manage the influx which rose from an average of 2,082 per day 2 weeks ago to daily admissions of 2,212 this week.

Despite the uptick, the number of deaths from Covid-19 has not begun to increase yet, with an average of 18 fatalities per day.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post