Thailand Must Adapt and Coexist Safely With the Coronavirus

Over the past year, the worldwide spread of the coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on Thailand and the economies of the many countries. In Thailand, some believe a relief budget of three trillion baht could also be inadequate.

Assuming Thailand can attain herd immunity by the end of this year as promised by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, every business is urging his govt to adopt a more practical measures to coexist with the coronavirus pandemic instead of restricting economic activities whenever new covid-19 infections expand.

While few countries within the world  have been able to contain the coronavirus by maintaining strict border controls and issuing draconian lockdowns, more countries are now choosing measures aimed toward coexistence, with people learning the way to protect themselves against the Covid-19 coronavirus.

We can’t avoid the virus for the rest of our lives, but we can minimize its impact.

The coronavirus itself will also change over time. As more people gain immunity through either infection or vaccination, the coronavirus will try to find ways to evade that immunity too. This is a natural consequence of living with a circulating virus; the flu also mutates every year in response to existing immunity.

“We must adapt to coexist safely with the disease. Strategies will change in the way that disease controls will go along with economic recovery. Business and activities must resume so that people can restore their normal life and relieve their hardship as much as possible,” Thailand’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration assistant spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangson said Friday.

Transition into Coronavirus life

The transition from endemic COVID-19 is also a psychological one. When everyone has some immunity, a COVID-19 diagnosis becomes as routine as diagnosis of strep or flu—not good news, but not a reason for particular fear or worry or embarrassment either.

With the flu, we as a society generally agree on the risk we were willing to tolerate. With COVID-19, we do not yet agree. Realistically, the risk will be much smaller than it is right now amid a Delta wave, but it will never be gone.

“We need to prepare people that it’s not going to come down to zero. It’s going to come down to some level we find acceptable,” according to Thailand’s Health Department spokesperson.

Better vaccines and better treatments might reduce the risk of COVID-19 even further. The experience may also prompt people to take all respiratory viruses more seriously, leading to lasting changes in mask wearing and ventilation.

Endemic COVID-19 means finding a new, tolerable way to live with this virus. It will feel strange for a while and then it will not. It will be normal.

Thailand logged 13,988 new Covid-19 cases and 187 more fatalities during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced on Monday morning. On Sunday, 17,284 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the coronavirus.