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.