Thai Government May Close Game Parlors Over Swine Flu Fears
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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Posted 11/20/09 at 05:42pm
ZippyDSMlee: oh may the cute stab out your eyes, http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat
ZippyDSMlee: oh may the cute stab out your eyes, http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:17pm
JDKJ: O.K. Suit yourself. But when you're wearing Ray-Bans, sitting on a curb with a white cane and a cup of pencils, and doing Stevie Wonder impersonations, don't say I didn't warn you.
JDKJ: O.K. Suit yourself. But when you're wearing Ray-Bans, sitting on a curb with a white cane and a cup of pencils, and doing Stevie Wonder impersonations, don't say I didn't warn you.
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:10pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No thank you I don;t want your cooties...or STDs...
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No thank you I don;t want your cooties...or STDs...
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:01pm
JDKJ: Me. I'm rehearsing the role just in case I do get dubbed Zippy The Soecnda.
JDKJ: Me. I'm rehearsing the role just in case I do get dubbed Zippy The Soecnda.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:59pm
DarkSaber: Wait, is that meant to be Zippy, me or you?
DarkSaber: Wait, is that meant to be Zippy, me or you?
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:49pm
JDKJ: I cud caer lez. =^^= *wakes up in mid-afternoon after staying up until 3:00AM soldering resistors on to circuit boards, stumbles around in formerly white but now grey underwear, while simultaneously scratching groin with vigor and making coffee*
JDKJ: I cud caer lez. =^^= *wakes up in mid-afternoon after staying up until 3:00AM soldering resistors on to circuit boards, stumbles around in formerly white but now grey underwear, while simultaneously scratching groin with vigor and making coffee*
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:46pm
DarkSaber: knell? Don't you mean Neil? Anymore of tht and I'll dub thee Zippy The Soecnda
DarkSaber: knell? Don't you mean Neil? Anymore of tht and I'll dub thee Zippy The Soecnda
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:44pm
JDKJ: Now, now, Saber. Don't be salty. You weren't the first one to knell and bob and you ain't gonna be the last one, either.
JDKJ: Now, now, Saber. Don't be salty. You weren't the first one to knell and bob and you ain't gonna be the last one, either.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:42pm
DarkSaber: JD's feeling rather desperate it seems.
DarkSaber: JD's feeling rather desperate it seems.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:33pm
JDKJ: C'mon, Zip. You already touch yourself way too much. Spread the love. Before you go blind.
JDKJ: C'mon, Zip. You already touch yourself way too much. Spread the love. Before you go blind.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No and I ain't touching any part of you or your friends!! :P
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No and I ain't touching any part of you or your friends!! :P
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:25pm
JDKJ: @Zip: You know Lik Mitaint?
JDKJ: @Zip: You know Lik Mitaint?
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:18pm
ZippyDSMlee: neill and bob,oldest giveing head joke and most lamest...
ZippyDSMlee: neill and bob,oldest giveing head joke and most lamest...
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:18pm
JDKJ: But thanks for the memory. MIB's a classic. *sings* "Here come the Men in Black. Galaxy defenders. Here come the Men in Black. They won't let you remember."
JDKJ: But thanks for the memory. MIB's a classic. *sings* "Here come the Men in Black. Galaxy defenders. Here come the Men in Black. They won't let you remember."
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:18pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:for the record I told you you can suck your own dck.
ZippyDSMlee: JD:for the record I told you you can suck your own dck.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:07pm
JDKJ: Naw, man. That's Mueedeegiaap and Bob. And you can stop bobbing. I got Zippy bobbing now, too.
JDKJ: Naw, man. That's Mueedeegiaap and Bob. And you can stop bobbing. I got Zippy bobbing now, too.
Posted 11/20/09 at 03:56pm
DarkSaber: OH I get it now! It's Men In Black quote! The twins that run the comm centre in HQ.
DarkSaber: OH I get it now! It's Men In Black quote! The twins that run the comm centre in HQ.
Posted 11/20/09 at 03:49pm
JDKJ: I'd like to introduce you to them. First, Neil. Then, Bob.
JDKJ: I'd like to introduce you to them. First, Neil. Then, Bob.
Posted 11/20/09 at 03:47pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:I know they are intimate friends of yours...
ZippyDSMlee: JD:I know they are intimate friends of yours...
Posted 11/20/09 at 03:44pm
JDKJ: @Zip: You know Neil and Bob?
JDKJ: @Zip: You know Neil and Bob?
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
And when will they reopen it??? I'm thinking an anti gaming excuse. >_>
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.
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.
/b
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.
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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.
Well, Asia is bursting with wildlife and people so a lot of diseases get quickly transmitted there.
GameSnooper
I don't remember them taking these precautions over Avian Flu, or SARS. (Remember those, they were supposed to kill us all as well.)
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
They didn't.
The West did.
Since we aren't getting any word of other public venues being closed, it seems all the more sketchy.
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.
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
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?-
At least it wasnt Anne Nicole Smith going about for 3 weeks.
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?
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?-
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.
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.