For those who believe the fallout is from nothing more than scaremongering in the media and overreacting by foreign governments, that raises a good question. Big numbers are being bandied about. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that since Oct 1, 2019 an estimated 19-26 million Americans have been infected with seasonal flu, resulting in 180,000-300,000 hospitalisations and an estimated 10,000-25,000 flu deaths. That’s just the US alone.
The trick with the Wuhan coronavirus in comparison is that we are only now learning its true fatality rate, and we still have no idea how contagious it really is – other than it seems to spread much faster than its viral cousins SARS and MERS. Put that virus in Asia, where close-quarters living in cities already poses a very high communicable disease risk, and the result could be devastating. Right now “better as safe as possible" seems to be an appropriate approach.
And the spotlight on Thailand is fair. With Thailand easily among Mainland China’s most popular flight holiday destinations, just the sheer number of mainland Chinese coming to this country, before the travel bans, warranted concern.
The dramatic fall in the number of all tourist arrivals, not just from China, this past week comes after a year of Thailand trying to come to terms with the appreciation of the baht and losing many tourists from traditional markets of higher-spending tourists. For far too long Thailand’s tourism industry has been overdependent on a diet of “fast food”, easy-to-get lower-spending tourists with no focus on the health of the tourism industry overall.
For individuals the simple advice, especially made famous by the Chinese health minister amid the “swine flu” outbreak, “If you don’t want to get sick, stay healthy” seems to be best. Many people right now are learning to not take their health for granted. The Wuhan flu, like any other serious form of influenza or pneumonia, is more dangerous to the very young, the old and the infirm. Ask any mothers about their babies or anyone categorised in the latter two and they will tell you that any day with good health is a good one.
Eat well, get rest, stay hydrated and keep clean, and you should be fine. It’s that simple.
It’s a pity the same approach wasn’t taken with the country’s tourism industry.