Watching Covid-19 through the Eyes of an Epidemiologist - 8 May 2020: Reopening Thailand for Immigrant Workers

By : Administrator

Post date : 2020-05-10 12:38:13, Read : 1164

Professor Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong, or "Ajarn Vii" as he often calls himself, is the founder of the Epidemiology Unit and also an expert in infectious disease epidemiology and provider of insightful social commentaries during times of crisis. 

 

Over the past 2 months, Ajarn Vii has produced a series of reflective opinion essays (in Thai) on the evolving situation of the Covid-19 pandemic with a focus on the situation in Thailand, titled "Watching Covid-19 through the Eyes of an Epidemiologist". This article is the English translation of the Thai original.

 

The following essay was written on:

8 May 2020

 

Foreign workers are an important force in reopening Thailand. But how do we prevent the COVID time bomb?

The original post in Thai can be found here

 

 

It's been a week since the International Workers' Day. The word "International" has been used to refer to the event happening in every country. But today, we should use the term "global", as in "Global Workers' Day". Workers travel across the globe and are not limited to their homeland.

 

 

Thailand cannot exist without immigrant workers. The comfortable life of the middle class is only possible because of our absorption of immigrants to do the jobs that Thai people do not want to do. These jobs are in industry, service, and housekeeping. These people come to work here, and they spend money and pay VAT just like we do. They help to drive the Thai economy with their spending power.

 

And then came the dark days. Coronavirus forced us to shut down our cities. Small businesses were destroyed by Covid. Many businesses, particularly SMEs, experienced supply chain problems. Workers, Thai and foreign, became unemployed. Before the shutdown, immigrant workers scrambled to go home. While Thai workers had the social security system and other state programs to function as a safety net for a sudden downfall, these protections were not available to immigrant workers.

 

 

Today, only the deep south region still has Covid-19 as the thorn on its side. Once doctors and public health workers remove the thorn in the next few days, it will be time for us to reopen our cities and engage in economic activities once again. Can we proceed without immigrant workers? I think opinions vary between different groups.

 

The first group includes those who have been unaffected: owners of industries whose immigrant workers did not go home, such as domestic service and big industries that did not experience lack of orders. This group is unlikely to have an opinion.

 

The second group includes those with high demand for immigrant workers: small-scale service and production businesses and labor-intensive SMEs. These businesses had to shut down for some time, and will not be able to recover without immigrant workers. The government wants to support SMEs to distribute income. The government needs to listen to SMEs.

 

The third group includes Thai workers who may perceive immigrant workers as competitors, and the xenophobes who hate and fear immigrants. Their number should have dwindled down nowadays.

 

Overall, it is possible that we will be going through tough times if foreign immigrants do not return. The demand for foreign worker should be very high.

 

 

From other perspectives, aside from internal pull or demand, the push from poverty in neighboring countries (i.e., supply) is equally important.

 

Starting economic activities is like turning on the light in your home on an early rainy season's night. After a long, dry period, the mayflies that have grown their wings fly to the light in a home named Thailand. No matter how tightly the doors and windows are shut, it is not possible to resist the mayfly's instinct.

 

The battle against Covid in the south is not over yet. We have accepted only a small number of Thai people back into the country because of various reasons, as I have mentioned. Right now we are opening up the battle on multiple fronts. The border-crossing rate, both legal and illegal, of immigrant workers into Thailand through the porous borders that spans thousands of kilometers will certainly be higher than the rate of Thai people coming back into the country from Malaysia.

 

We want to admit immigrant workers. They want to come here and make money. The benefits align. But we do not yet have a way to deal with Covid that may come with the immigrant workers.

 

Change the scene from Yala Province in the south with infected persons coming in from overseas, to Mae Sot District, Tak Province, in the west.

 

 

During normal economic times, approximately 2,000 workers legally crossed the border daily. Most of these workers move to other parts of Thailand: the capital, big cities, and the countryside. Some of these workers stayed in Mae Sot to work in big industries (textile), and SME businesses and industry. Before the government announced border closure, tens of thousands of workers went home through these borders. Others returned via natural routes.

 

Now it is time for Thailand to restart the economy. Mae Sot is a small keyhole through with a mayfly needs to fly toward the light. It is not likely that we can screen and quarantine such a large number of workers.

 

 

It is fortunate that the Covid-19 situation in Myanmar is not as bad as in Malaysia. The proportion of those who crossed the Myanmar border who are infected with Covid-19 should be much lower than those who crossed the Malaysian border. There have been two cases of Covid in Mae Sot, both of which were foreigners who entered Thailand through Suwannabhumi Airport. There has been no report of local transmission. But don't forget that there are far more people entering Thailand through Mae Sot than through the southern border. This may not be safe. Mae Sot is a crossing between Thailand and Myanmar with the highest number of entries. There are direct flights to Mae Sot from Suwannabhumi. Mae Sot is also the crossing that is nearest to Yangon, the epicenter of the epidemic in Myanmar, as well as a major corssing point of transnational human trafficking.

 

 

I would advise you to follow the news about the Rohinga in Mae Sot in the next few days. They needed to travel from the Arakan or Rakhine State in Myanmar, go eastbound across the country to enter Thailand on the hope that they will then enter Malaysia. Why did they need to take on so much risk? How did they move? What is human trafficking really like?

 

The slightest mention of this brings out ethnic slurs. Be careful. Syria was once a beautiful country. Within months, 2 million Syrians who once lived comfortably in their homes had to become refugees and ran for their lives only to experience discrimination in Europe. Don't be complacent. How would we feel if we experience something like Syria? It's good that we are not like that. Now please look at refugees with compassion.

 

 

The very frightening thing is not the entry, nor is it human trafficking. It's the quarantine and the living condition of immigrant workers who are in Thailand and those who are scheduled to return.

 

A major risk factor is the crowded living condition, which enables the spread of disease. Singapore couldn't solve this problem, despite having 9 times higher GDP per capita than Thailand. Covid-19 spreads severely. Can Thailand fix this weak point? Are we only waiting for the time bomb to explode?

 

When immigrant workers who are here legally fall ill with Covid-19, they deserve the same rights to medical care as Thai people, using money from the foreign workers' insurance fund. This money can be used for medical treatment if the number of cases is low. But as I have mentioned, Covid-19 is a communicable disease. Once case living in a crowded space can make everyone who lives in that same space become sick. The larger group and the more crowded condition, the more severe impact that the detonated Covid-19 bomb will have on the economy.

 

 

Immigrant workers are like fuel that drives the nation's economy. But fuel that is not stored well in a house can get ignited and burn it down, even if there was just a small kindle or a small number of people who import the disease. The issue of immigrant workers is certainly a conundrum.

 

 

I would like to end this rather long and heavy article with this final thought:

 

In the past, we have managed each province like they were separate houses. In reality, our houses are very close to each other. They are like wooden townhouses in a market, where water flows from one to the other. When the border provinces decide to bring in fuel to add to the existing stock, the entire market should discuss about this. The fire from restarting the economy without proper care in one house can spread to all other houses and burn the entire market down.

 

 

Composed by Prof. Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong, MD, PhD. Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University.


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