Thursday, September 10, 2020

Bali Foreigners Higher % of Covid-19 Cases than Indonesians


Yesterday Bali counted 174 new positive cases yesterday , bringing the cumulative total to 6,723.

The Bali Covid-19 Task Force reports 171 cases are Indonesians and three Foreigners. 

All new cases are local transmissions.

That means 4.23 % of the cases diagnosed yesterday were foreigners.

Higher % Foreign Cases than Locals.

My observation  the last week or so since the government initiated mandatory masks is that foreigners are the ones there are abusing this new law much more than the locals.

 I observed this trend especially on the West Coast in areas such as Kuta, Seminyak, Kerobakan and Changgu where the young foreigners think that they are immune from Covid 19.


The statistics yesterday prove them wrong.

Based on an assumption that there are approximately 10,000 Foreigners in Bali at this time and three of them were infected yesterday that is a percentage of .0300%.

Indonesian locals on the other hand only have a percentage of .0036%.

The chart does not lie. That means there is a much higher chance of you being affected as a foreigner in Bali right now than and Indonesian local.




So don't tell me that foreigners aren't getting this infection.

In fact just recently I had an Australian associate and tennis player pass from Covid 19 complications.

Every day now I am hearing of friends and associates who have lost friends or associates to COVID - 19.

It's time for everyone, including foreigners to put their mask on. 

If they don't they will be fined every time they're caught.

More importantly than being caught they should be shamed because when they do not wear a mask they are putting in jeopardy the lives of everyone they come in contact with.

If you read our past blogs over the last seven months you are aware that we have been one of the most positive blogs on COVID - 19 in Bali.



Unfortunately, COVID - 19 is starting to get a little out of control in Bali. 

Do not kill the messenger. 

In the olden days when Kings received bad news about battles from their messengers they occasionally would kill the messenger out of rage. Please do not chastise me for providing the real news on COVID – 19. 

When the government decided not to open international tourism on September 11th. it was a big let-down for all of us, especially someone like me a hotel manager that keep 100 % of our staff on through that time. 

What is Most Important to Tourists?

 
Now that there is little chance of international tourists coming back before the end of the year we must focus on the most important thing to attract tourists. It is not low prices and fancy advertising. It is safety. 

I can guarantee you as a husband and father of two children that most parents and adults in the world are more concerned about safety than anything else when they travel right now.

If they see that Bali has a dramatic increase in cases and deaths they simply will not come here. 

Foreign governments will restrict their citizens from coming here.

Every problem has a Solution. 

As I often say to my children “Every problem has a solution. Every solution is time or money or combination of both”. 

"Every problem has a solution. Every solution is time or money or combination of both”. 

If we are ever going to see international tourists come back to Bali in the near term we must become extremely strict and take coronavirus seriously.

My family and I have taken coronavirus seriously since we returned from vacation in Switzerland in January and I started to read the news about coronavirus as it was beginning to spread.

We were one of the first people in Bali to buy masks and wear them whenever we went out.

Classmates of our children teased our boys when they wore them to school. I few weeks later they stopped.

I established protocol for when we go anywhere. When we come home we strip down our undergarments before we enter the house. Then we take a shower and then, and only then do we touch anything the house.

When we go to restaurants we avoid enclosed restaurants since recent research indicates that COVID - 19 can live for a long time in the air-conditioning system. 
Recently customers that came into restaurants in other parts of the world were infected by somebody sitting as far as 5 m away from them. 



China. a Role Model.

To my knowledge there are only a few countries that have successfully controlled coronavirus.

The largest one is China where it originated. Although they have almost 1.5 Billion people they have only had around 85,000 cases and approximately 5,000 deaths.

As you can see by the chart below that had a minute amount of new cases and deaths for the last four months. Quite an accomplishment. 

Why is China under control and beginning to open social venues, domestic travel etc. etc. while the rest the world is doing poorly?

Simple, because China took very harsh actions and locked everybody down until the virus was under control.

Unfortunately, in Bali for the first five months it looked like Bali going was almost immune from the virus with a minute amount of cases and deaths.

That is changing rapidly as we have had exponential growth in cases and deaths the last couple of weeks which is overly concerning to me as Father and a Husband. 

Last week the Bali government finally instituted a protocol whereby everybody must wear a mask in public and social distance. 

When I go into restaurants recently I find that most are following the protocol and insisting you wash your hands before you even enter, taking your temperature and then seating you in a social distanced manner.

The staff are approaching with masks and face shields on following the government's protocol.

Public not Following Protocol: 

Unfortunately, a lot of the public is not doing the same 


At several other restaurants recently as I am ordering my dinner the staff would approach with a mask on and then pull it off their face to talk. I told them to put it back or we were leaving. 

Why, because restaurant staff who are dealing with hundreds of people every day are most likely to be the ones that are going to catch the disease. 

Although it is a hindrance having our two boys at home doing home-schooling and hard on them I think is the best thing. Especially after I read about a university in America the last few days that began classes and then automatically had over a thousand other students to test positive. 

The research that we had early in the virus stating that it was primarily attacking the old and those with preconditions is no longer true with children as young as under 10 obtaining the disease and passing it on to their parents and grandparents etc. 

This is no longer a laughing matter. 

I remember early in the virus everybody was laughing about wearing a mask. 

In fact, when I go to places such as the West Coast of Bali in Seminyak, Changgu and areas where a lot of young expatriates hang out I still see most of them not wearing masks.


The governments new law about wearing the masks has a two-week socialization period. If they find you without a mask they will scold you but not fine you. That will stop soon. 

I can guarantee you that once the socialization period is over the police will be giving fines to people in mass not wearing a mask. 

So, the bottom line is for every one of you reading this whether you believe this is all one big conspiracy or not you better wear your mask. 

I called a close relative of mine the other day in Canada to wish them a happy birthday and was surprised during our conversation to hear them say “we don't have to worry about coronavirus”. 
I was especially surprised since they are in the age bracket that is highly susceptible to dying from this disease. In fact, Canada as of today is in the top 25% of cases and deaths with 128,948 cases and 9,126 Deaths. 

When they stated that they knew of “no relatives or no friends that have been affected by the disease” I made a comment to him that,” 

I know someone who has the same first name as him, is a tennis player like me and lives within 11 KM of me that died just a few weeks ago from coronavirus complications". 

This brought it all home to me. It is time for us all to get serious. Even if you do not believe in the disease follow the protocol the government has set out or we are all going to suffer. 

If I see you not following the protocol I will not say anything I will just turn around and leave with a disgusted look on my face. 

Those that do not wear masks within closed spaces and close proximately are in my opinion ignorant and selfish. 

Remember masks are primarily to protect others from the disease although there is some research in the last few weeks indicating that it may also help protect you. 

I believe in the near future it will be considered rude and of course unlawful if you do not wear a mask. 

Now all you left-wingers can come out of the woodwork and condone my little spiel today. 

I do not care, and I will not even respond to such ignorance. 

On the other hand, if you agree with me maybe you can add your comments to this post so that we can all prevent Bali from enduring a complete economic depression. 

It is up to us. Our future is in our hands. 

I have a family to care for which extends all the way over to Java and I have 70+ staff and their families which means upwards to 200 people rely on us staying safe. 

As far as the foreigners that are not applying the rules I think they should get a million rupiah fine otherwise they may ignore the rule. 

It is time to get serious look at the facts, look at the charts, look at what is happening and take some serious meaningful responsible action. 

If you do not Bali may fall into a complete state of despair as we are one of the few places in the world that 80% to 90% of business relies on tourists.

Remember what I said earlier if we do not prove that we are safe tourists will not come. I guarantee it 







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