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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Bali Points the Way

    How Bali Escaped Being Virus Hot Spot With Local Traditions

    By Arys Aditya
    and Harry Suhartono
    May 15, 2020, 4:00 AM GMT+7 Updated on May 15, 2020, 5:52 PM GMT+7
    Bloomberg/asia


    • Resort island has lowest death rate among Indonesia’s regions
    • Fewer cases, deaths may help early revival of tourism industry


    A police officer wears a mask called "Leak" while educating people on coronavirus matter at a market in Kerobokan, May 14. Photographer: Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP via Getty Images

    Bali, the resort island popular with backpackers, was always seen as a fertile ground for the coronavirus as millions of foreign tourists flock to its beaches. But it is today being touted as a model by Indonesian authorities in tackling the pandemic.

    The success in curbing the virus has come with the help of about 1,500 traditional village committees with considerable sway over the majority Hindu residents, according to Governor Wayan Koster. The island with a population of 4.2 million has reported just four virus-related deaths and 343 confirmed cases for a fatality rate of 1.2%, far below the national average of 6.5%.

    “A lot of people were previously very worried that Bali would be badly hit by Covid-19 as it’s the largest tourist destination in Indonesia,” Koster said in a phone interview. “But so far, the facts show a totally different picture.”

    Bali’s relative success in containing the virus may give it a head-start in luring visitors back when international travel resumes and revive its tourism-dependent economy. It’s also in sharp contrast to the widely-criticized efforts at the national level, which have led to deaths swelling to more than 1,000 and officials now warning the disease may infect almost 100,000 before starting to ease.

    While no deadline has been set for reopening the island to tourists, Koster says a strategy is ready but it will be rolled out after Bali completely recovers from the pandemic. The island along with Manado, and Batam are among places where the government is planning to ease restrictions, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan said Thursday.

    Tourists walk to Jimbaran Beach in Bali on March 31.
    Photographer: Wawan Kurniawan /Opn Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

    Officials tapped the influential village committees and Hindu beliefs to ensure residents stayed at home and no outside visitors were permitted to avoid wider infections after a British tourist with Covid-19 was the first in Bali to succumb to the virus in early March. People were also asked to perform certain Hindu rituals for protection, which mandated them to obey local leaders, according to Governor Koster.
    “The villages in Bali know who gets in or out and who has left the village for good,” said Achmad Sukarsono, a senior analyst at Control Risks. “This system works well there but can’t be replicated anywhere else. It has helped the local government to control the outbreak.”

    Religious Rituals


    Few other places in Indonesia, an archipelago of of 18,000 islands, have a village structure similar to Bali where leaders hold as much sway over a population of its size. Then there’s also a lack of testing, with President Joko Widodo calling for scaling up the nation’s diagnostic capacity, saying the daily testing of 4,000-5,000 specimens was “far below our target.”

    The province didn’t impose more punishing social distancing rules such as ban on mass gatherings and curbs on public transport unveiled by the central government and followed in places such as Jakarta and West Java. But it locked down three villages, following local community infections from returning migrant workers. Authorities are prepared to handle the return of thousands of migrant workers, including from cruise ships, in the coming weeks, Koster said.

    Medical workers take blood samples from local citizens during a random rapid testing in Denpasar, Bali, May 11.
    Photographer: Johanes Christo/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    “The villages have a very strong influence on the community. Whatever the elders in the villages said, people will abide,” said Ngurah Wijaya, adviser to the Bali Tourism Board. “This has enabled the government to impose its policies down to the community level effectively.”
    Bali’s triumph on the virus front is not limited to suppressing new cases or limiting loss of lives. The recovery rate from Covid-19 in the island is more than 66%, compared with national average of 22%. Three labs in the island can now test almost 500 specimens a day, as opposed to sending samples to cities outside the province initially. That allows authorities to speed up contact tracing and isolation, Koster said.
    Majestically enthroned amid the vulgar herd

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat

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    The local Hindu, village police will stop anyone without a mask, ordering some poor souls to do press ups as punishment. A few local bullies have had their wings clipped.
    When the village heads decided to extend Nyepi, the Hindu New year seclusion, in March, Widodo said NO.
    Yes they can be useful, but they have little or no training in effective security. Just local tough guys waiting for an opportunity to wear a boss hat.
    Little or no testing, the same as the rest of the country. Now insisting on selling transit passes for locals, charging a weeks wages just to travel to work.
    They are their own worst enemy.

    All the potential tourist infections have gone home, leaving the place largely deserted.

  3. #3
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    Little or no testing, the same as the rest of the country.
    A couple of friends of mine tested positive. 3 or 4 Million to get the test.

    Indonesia is fukking useless, and articles like these are way off the mark.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRealKW View Post
    A couple of friends of mine tested positive. 3 or 4 Million to get the test.

    Indonesia is fukking useless, and articles like these are way off the mark.
    It’s just the local governor, blowing his own trumpet. Taking the praise for any local, or national success.
    I guess he must be up for re-election soon.

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Can the numbers be trusted when....

    Sources with contacts in the local medical community are skeptical about the veracity of the figures, noting an item in the Bali Tribune on May 3 which reported 25 new confirmed cases that were subsequently not reflected in the national caseload figure.

    Bali's Covid-19 defenses start to wash away - Asia Times



  6. #6
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Can the numbers be trusted when....
    Not at all.

    A country of 280 Million people, not able or willing to social distance because it will cost their jobs, for most the test costs a month's wages.

    Little testing equals low numbers, but nothing to crow about, because sooner or later that time bomb will explode.
    Warning: Be cautious if you are a fragile pink

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    ...so, I guess Bali doesn't point the way then...

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    I wouldn't think so.

  9. #9
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    In theory, the low numbers of testing, and poor application of lockdown measures would indicate a longer period of lockdown.
    A week ago, the Indonesian President was talking about getting back to business and re-starting the faltering economy. Unbelievable, but true, because he recognizes the weakness of a developing country with highly ineffective infrastructure necessary to tackle such a pandemic.
    If he waits too long to reactivate the economy, the fastest growing Asian country in the world will collapse.
    If he goes to early, the pandemic will severely reduce the numbers available to go back to work.

    It may turn out to their advantage to cull the vulnerable members of society, reducing unemployment by Darwinism. They are ill equipped to fight the virus, so letting it decimate society will allow the economy to get back to work quicker, with a workforce of quality survivors.

    Personally I think they will fudge it.

  10. #10
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    It may turn out to their advantage to cull the vulnerable members of society, reducing unemployment by Darwinism. They are ill equipped to fight the virus, so letting it decimate society will allow the economy to get back to work quicker, with a workforce of quality survivors.
    That isn't Darwinism.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    That isn't Darwinism.
    Oh yes it is.

  12. #12
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    The unemployed getting sick and dying, leaving people who are not sick and not dying to work, is not Darwinism.

    Now go and paint some rocks white.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    The unemployed getting sick and dying, leaving people who are not sick and not dying to work, is not Darwinism.

    Now go and paint some rocks white.
    The old, weak and vulnerable are selected for death first. This is true Darwinism for every species except humans. Under covid-19, even humanity has to accept it. It is a Darwinian virus.
    Now go and paint your blackboard white, muppet.

  14. #14
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    Well I reckon I'm headed to Bali later this year, some good deals to be had- and let gawd and darwin argue over the results. Plan to get to Thailand too, if they'll let me in.

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