Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the current pandemic situation and while frankly this is not the thrust of what I thought this channel would ever be about, anything along these lines, it has become something that is having a fundamental impact on folks’ legal rights as well as their ability to do business here in Thailand as well as their ability to travel to and from Thailand. So in the end it kind of indirectly involves a lot of what we talk about on this channel and more and more it has kind of become the 1,000 lb. gorilla in the room if you will. In what I can only describe has been the best news I have heard this year thus far which okay, we are not that far into the year but it is pretty news as far as I was concerned. 

A recent article from Thai PBS World, that is thaipbsworld.com, the article is titled: With over 2000 Omicron cases in Thailand so far, expert predicts beginning of New Wave. Now from that title this doesn't seem, in fact yet again I would kind of take issue with the way that the media frames all of this. I really urge people to read this again thaipbsworld.com, the article is titled: With over 2,000 Omicron cases in Thailand so far, expert predicts beginning of New Wave. I really urge folks to read this but the mean potatoes, the thrust, the crux of this article, it is very optimistic about where this is headed. I am going to go ahead and quote and they were talking to Dr. Manoon Leechawengwongs, and we have actually quoted him in the past. Quoting further: "A doctor specializing in respiratory and pulmonary diseases at Vichaiyut Hospital," Now contrast that with oftentimes we hear spokespeople from the CCSA with a medical emphasis in psychiatry as opposed to again "respiratory and pulmonary diseases" which to my mind lends this person's opinion a lot of credibility because this is what Dr. Manoon does. Quoting further: "In his Facebook post today he said however there is no cause for alarm."  Again, I couldn't put a finer point on it myself! Quoting further: "In this new wave of Omicron infections which Dr. believes to be the biggest yet, people who have been inoculated or infected with other variants will contract the rapidly spreading variant sooner or later he said but they will have developed herd immunity instead of falling sick and in the end the COVID-19 pandemic will come to an end." I want to read that again: "and in the end, the COVID-19 pandemic will come to an end." There is a lot more in here and I am not going to quote any further from this because quite frankly I think it would behoove those who are interested in this topic to go ahead and read it really in detail. There is a lot of information that this expert in respiratory and pulmonary diseases has put out there for folks and it is of interest to both Thais and foreign nationals here in the Kingdom. 

Now what I am hoping is we are at least coming to the end of this long dark tunnel and seeing the light. I truly hope we are and I truly hope that folks in a position to make policy decisions will take all of this data into account and recognize that look we have had 21 months of exceptional negative movement with respect to the economy, negative pressure placed on the economy and quite frankly I don't know, and I have stated this before, I don't know how much more the economy can frankly take before it just kind of gives out for lack of a better term. I know that that is not how economics exactly works but long story short, we have dealt with a great deal of economic downturn. There is no doubt as a result especially since the latest lockdown in April of 2021 which really hasn't ended even to this point. We have not gone back to what we had prior to that date yet. What I am hoping is as this new data comes out and we see this thing for what it is, that we understand that look under a cost benefit analysis it is time to go ahead and take the economy and understand that having lost 18% of GDP pursuant to what has been said in the Bangkok Post in other in other videos we have talked about, that it is time to really take a hard look at the economic impact and maybe prioritize that over something that is really probably, at least according to an expert in respiratory and pulmonary disease, something that does not pose nearly the threat that we once thought it might.