Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu Fears

July 9, 2009

Swine Flu remains a concern in Thailand, where government officials are considering a shutdown of game centers in an effort to control the spread of the illness.

GameCulture reports that Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will decide today whether such a step is warranted. Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai recently named game parlors as hotspots for the spread of Swine Flu. From the GC report:

Thailand, which has recorded more than 2200 H1N1 infections since the virus started spreading globally earlier this year, saw a spike in cases over the past weekend... Interviews with patients pointed to Bangkok's popular gaming cafes as a hub for transmission. On weekends, and particularly during holidays, Thai teenagers crowd into the cafes, where they chat and play games until the wee hours...

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Comments

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by Thomas McKenna on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 15:01.

In other news, 2200 cases of the real flu have been reported this week (not really, making that number up).

A number I'm not making up though, is that approximately 36,000 deaths and over 200,000 hospitalizations happen each year from the standard flu (thanks wikipedia) in the USA alone. Meanwhile, Swine flu has had about 108,000 reported cases and only 560 deaths. So, despite the fact that Swine flu kills about 0.1% as much as the real flu, this one gets all the media attention.

Can we be over this BS already?

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by chadachada321 on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 15:25.

Exactly what I had been thinking. Swine Flu is just a strain of the normal flu, it's no more deadly as long as you don't have other underlying medical conditions (most that have died of swine flu had other diseases/conditions as well). The only reason that swine flu could be a LITTLE bit worse is because no one has gotten it before, meaning that no one has any antibodies for it. I'm sick of the coverage of flu.

-If an apple a day keeps the doctor away....what happens when a doctor eats an apple?-

-Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis-It is best to endure what you cannot change-

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by Ashton on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 18:21.

With the difference being that normal flu deaths are caused by negligence (not going to see a doctor) or bad health care (exacerbating the conditions). Generally, we know how to deal with the flu, as long as people go to see good doctors.

What makes the medical community scramble every time one of these new viruses are discovered are the unknown factors. Who knows if, once they start replicating in the human body, they start mutating at an exponential rate? That would make them impossible to cure. You never know when a new virus is going to start a pandemic, so it's always better to be safe than sorry in terms of health, in my humble opinion.

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by Alyric on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 18:01.

It really is ridiculous. In the time it took for there to be ~8 deaths attributed to the Swine Flu, there were ~13,000 deaths from the regular flu. In the United States alone. And that was months ago, the number has no doubt soared by now; flu is a fairly common cause of (or contributing factor to) death - even here in America.

Now, there was a legitimate cause for the scientific and medical communities to keep a close watch on the outbreak; it is suspected (though not proven, as far as I know) that the 1918 pandemic was caused by a mutated version of the swine flu.

That said, the chances of this swine flu outbreak mutating into a similar strain were abysmally low, and even those few facts were lost to a media that simply wanted to sensationalize the fear factor.

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by Wormdundee on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 14:48.

Huh, I thought this whole swine flu thing was a done deal. I guess the media here finally got tired of blabbing about it all the time.

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 14:54.

No. Michael Jackson Died. Now everyone is focusing on that and soon they will forget what they were talking about before hand.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma

E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by chadachada321 on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 15:26.

I'm sick of seeing about him too. Shouldn't spend more than a week on a dead person unless there's a real scandal or something interesting about it, not spend two weeks STRAIGHT of memorial stuff.

-If an apple a day keeps the doctor away....what happens when a doctor eats an apple?-

-Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis-It is best to endure what you cannot change-

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by PumaFau on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 22:58.

At least it wasnt Anne Nicole Smith going about for 3 weeks.

Never underestimate the power of idiots in large amounts.

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by Cheater87 on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 09:23.

And when will they reopen it??? I'm thinking an anti gaming excuse. >_>

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by Ashton on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 09:38.

Dude, you have no idea how bad the Swine Flu scare has spooked Asian countries. I'm talking serious airport security. If you even have so much of a sniffle they'll run you down and ask you a battery of questions on your health.

For once, I actually believe the Swine Flu reason.

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by DarkSaber on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 12:39.

I don't remember them taking these precautions over Avian Flu, or SARS. (Remember those, they were supposed to kill us all as well.)

--------------------------------------------------

I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

-------------------------------------------------- I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by Ashton on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 12:52.

They didn't.

The West did.

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 13:08.

Since we aren't getting any word of other public venues being closed, it seems all the more sketchy.

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by JustChris on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 12:22.

Well, Asia is bursting with wildlife and people so a lot of diseases get quickly transmitted there.

GameSnooper

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by beemoh on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 11:26.

To be fair, it is a bit suspect that it's only game centres that are being mentioned, certainly as far as I can see.

Re: Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu ...

Submitted by jedidethfreak on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 17:08.

Well, considering it's called GamePolitics, not RestaurantPolitics or MallPolitics, I think they'd only mention the gaming aspect, not all the other stuff they've closed down since the outbreak started.

---

Freedom of speech means the freedom to say ANYTHING, so long as it is the truth. This does not exclude anything that might hurt someone's feelings.

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E. Zachary Knight: That is absolutely nuts there. As bad an experience XBox Indie Games was, the problems weren't with the self published side of things. Forcing a publisher onto independent studios is not going to help.05/22/2013 - 10:43am

MaskedPixelante: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-22-microsoft-wont-let-indies-self-publish-on-xbox-one And the hits just keep on coming.05/22/2013 - 9:20am

E. Zachary Knight: AE: You beat me to it. That's what I get for taking the night off.05/22/2013 - 7:40am

E. Zachary Knight: To continue the confused and convoluted messaging system present in EA, They are making Wii U games: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192753/EA_is_working_on_Wii_U_games_after_all.php05/22/2013 - 7:33am

Imautobot: I gotta admit, I seriously believed Microsoft was going to "Bring It" with this new console. But they failed, and I think that failure might be Epic.05/22/2013 - 7:27am

Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm

Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm

Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm

Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

james_fudge: it sounds like if you have an HD reciever you'll be able to use it with a pass-through cable... not 100 percent sure yet05/21/2013 - 2:41pm

james_fudge: happening now http://majornelson.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-architecture-panel/05/21/2013 - 2:20pm

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