DHS offers car travel tips for Covid-19 safety for New Year’s

A list of car travel tips has just been released by the Department of Health Services to encourage people to be conscientious of Covid-19 safety during the New Year’s holiday. The department put out the list as highly-transmissible Omicron variant infections spread across Thailand in an effort to get people to exercise caution against the virus, though some of the more extreme instructions may drive people away from adhering to the list.

The DHS warned that public transport or even private car travel carries a higher risk of Covid-19 transmission since people are close together in a poorly ventilated and confined space, and for holiday travel it’s often for longer lengths of time.

They advise a pre-travel checklist that includes using health apps like Thais Save Thais to do an assessment and make sure they have no symptoms that could be Covid-19 related, or that they are at risk for infection. Travellers should then take an antigen test to make sure they are not infected. Anyone who has been exposed to an infected person or suspects they might have Covid-19 should not be sharing a car with anyone and should self-isolate for 2 weeks and get RT-PCR tests.

Meanwhile, cars should be sanitised, especially places likely to be touched like door handles and seats, and should be checked to be sure everything is in working order. Windows should be left open to circulate air.

The following tips were offered by the DHS to practice extreme caution on holiday trips:

• Wear face masks all the time and avoid talking in the confined car space
• Maintain social distancing
• Wash hands regularly with sanitiser
• Avoid touching common surfaces in the car and at rest areas
• Avoiding sharing food while travelling in the same car
• Do not share glasses, bottles, or eating utensils
• For long-distance driving, stop the car every hour and open the car windows

SOURCE: Thai PBS World