Context needed
Re: "DDC reports over 374K Covid cases", (BP, June 7).
You reported 375,000 cases of Covid with 84 fatalities so far this year.
Just to put that statistic in perspective, Thailand had a death rate of 0.83 in 1000 people in 2023. That means, from a random group of 375,000 people, 311 will pass away this year, or roughly 130 until today.
Meanwhile, Google told me that roughly 50 people die from traffic accidents per day, which translates to around 8,000 so far this year.
This does not mean that we should not take Covid seriously, but we should be aware that dying in a traffic accident is much more likely than from a Covid infection.
Isolated figures on their own can create the wrong impression.
Heiner Moessing
Check your facts
Re: "Poison from above", (PostBag, June 10) & "It's time to go geoengineering on climate issue", (Opinion, June 5).
I would like to clarify Michael Setter's vague comments in his latest letter "Poison from above".
First and foremost, the UK government is spending £50 million on RESEARCH into geoengineering to determine whether or not it is both safe and effective. It is not wantonly spraying toxic chemicals into the air to create "poison" like Mr Setter portrays.
Secondly, the assertion that the ubiquitous "they" are trying to reduce the human population and failing dismally is more hilarious. A little reading would demonstrate that the global birth rate is falling, primarily due to economic worries, so the simple solution is for "they" to steal all the money and leave the riff raff with a pittance so they can't afford to breed. This is called eugenics.
Thirdly, his claim that solar minimum cycles will mitigate man-made climate change must have come from someone's basement. The mean time between solar cycles is 11 years, yet anthropogenic global warming has proceeded apace since we first industrialised deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions in the late 19th century.
One day I hope Mr Setter will actually start studying science and submit facts -- not long-debunked conspiracy theories to the Post.
Tarquin Chufflebottom
Image problem
Re: "Covid spike a cause for concern, says Chula professor," & "Economic push a priority, PM tells envoys", (BP, June 10).
As I was taking a long, slow, cramped elevator ride 17 floors up at an international hospital this morning, a mother and her daughter (about 10-years-old) stood next to me, masked to the hilt, while I was not masked.
"Covid is all around!" she snapped at me, to which I calmly replied, "Yes, it is," and got off on my floor for a mundane, annual physical.
"Germophobic" thoughts and statements such as those, along with the sight of so many people still wearing face masks greeting foreign tourists the instant they get off of their plane, make Thailand look to visitors as though it is still stuck in the pandemic years, even though much of the world has moved on now.
I think I see why tourists often skip Thailand these days, and I'd say fully reviving this economy is going to require some very heavy lifting.
Jason A Jellison
