A northeastern province best known as the “land of elephants” wants to be the first to classify COVID-19 as endemic.
On Friday, Surin province will be “ready” to transition out of pandemic measures, provincial officials announced, three months ahead of the recently announced national schedule. The proposal has received pushback from Surin residents.
“Really? First province in Thailand? Did you ask the doctors if the medicine is enough? Did you ask us if we’re ready?” Facebooker Nattakarn Tubtim wrote in reply to the local authorities.
Thailand to declare COVID-19 endemic in July
Surin officials listed milestones the province has reached such as keeping the COVID-related death rate to under 0.5% of cases, hospitalizations to below 3%, and vaccination above 70%. They also claimed that “100%” of residents wear face masks and follow preventive measures such as keeping socially distant, washing hands, and – most unlikely of all – checking in with the government’s Thai Chana application.
The authorities have also urged residents to get COVID-19 booster shots as soon as they can.
According to Surin’s official record, 16,354 people contracted the disease and 29 died from Dec. 24 to Saturday.
The authorities however did not specify that from Friday onward, what would be the practical impact of declaring endemic status. That’s led the provincial administration to get an earful from residents.
“How ready are you actually?” a Nikom Waleeprathanporn wrote on its Facebook.
Some demanded more information.
“How will the people benefit from shifting to endemic status? Do we still have to wear a face mask in public? Do we still have to practice social distancing? If we’re infected with COVID-19, can we go outside or we still have to quarantine ourselves? Will we have to pay out of our own pocket like we do for dengue fever?” a Parama Silathong wrote. “There are no specified details for us taxpayers at all.”
