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● Saengfah Khamdee, 37 years old, Ethnic Shan from Shan State in Myanmar, now owner of a restaurant and a moto rental shop in Chiang Mai
● Great financial impact from the pandemic
● Cluster infection for the entire family (7-8 persons)
● Difficult access to health care once tested positive
● Experience in a field hospital
● Conducting a soul calling and life regeneration ritual after recovery
● Limited access to aid due to being viewed as non-resident alien
● The government could have done better in implementing COVID restriction policy.
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● Wannee Kongnam, 35 years old, Thai, Thai, Former COVID Test Laboratory Worker
● Changing career path and having optional job as an online teacher
● Family members are frontline workers and have not got access to the COVID aid fund
from the employer as promised since 2020 pandemic.
● Discernable inflation rate
● The government should have worked better and acted faster in helping the vulnerable
groups in the society.
● Comparing social stigma about COVID with HIV
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● Piak Arunothai, 31 years old, Chinese-Thai, Thai, Doctor
● Mostly at a hospital in Bangkok since the first surge of pandemic in early 2020
● Not stationed at COVID-ICU anymore
● Visiting family as usual
● More familiar with New Normal
● Colored Zoning in the country to determine the level of infection
● Having yet accessed to the COVID aid fund from the employer as promised since 2020 pandemic.
● The government should have worked better dealing with COVID.
● Adaptation from both virus and human being to coexist as companion species
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● Sophon Yeang, 40 years old, Khmer, Khmer, Wellness Business Provider
● Stay in lockdown since March 2020
● 20 March 2022 is his two-year anniversary of him getting stuck in Thailand
● COVID Help Application by private mobile companies
● Taking care of an Italian foster father (aged 93)
● No plan for travel
● “Only the paranoid survives,” his favorite motto
● “Unlearn, relearn, adapt,” his own lesson learned from this pandemic
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● Wannee Kongnam (pseudonym), 35 years old, Thai, Thai, COVID Test Laboratory Worker
● Rarely visited family since early the first surge of pandemic in early 2020
● Compulsory mask wearing
● Overwhelmed with workload but getting paid less
● Expressing frustration of at-risk workers not being supported enough by the state
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● Piak Arunothai (pseudonym), 30 years old, Chinese-Thai, Thai, COVID-ICU doctor
● Mostly at the hospital in Bangkok since the first surge of the pandemic in early 2020
● Compulsory mask wearing
● Rarely visits his family
● Prone to order food via online platform to avoid going outside
● Predictions about the coronavirus
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● Sophon Yeang (pseudonym), 39 years old, Khmer, Khmer, Wellness Business Provider
● Stayed in lockdown since March 2020
● Compulsory mask wearing
● Taking care of an Italian foster father (aged 92)
● Loss of his foster mother in Italy 10 days before the day of interview and unable to attend her funeral because of the travel restrictions
● Triggered by the pandemic, his foster father expressed a traumatized experience of his childhood during World War II.
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● Dang, 28 years old, Bangkok Thailand, Digital Marketer
● Lockdown for two weeks, second wave of Covid; nationwide curfew and national state of emergency
● Compulsory mask wearing
● Work from home, wage reduction
● Hospitalized due to COVID-19
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● Bank, 68 years old, restaurant owner
● His business closed permanently due to the country lockdown
● Unable to access an emergency loan from financial institutions
● Recently opened a small food stall in a fresh market
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● Nan, 46 years old, ethnic Karen Sgaw (Pga K’nau), living in a mountainous/highland area in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Head of the village
● Community members decided themselves to lockdown their community.
● They cannot sell their agricultural products due to limited demand
● Relying on self-grown rice and food from the forest
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● May, 76 years old, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Village Health Volunteer
● Relies on her son as well as subsistence allowance for elderly and social welfare
● Unable to access financial aid scheme to alleviate hardship caused by the recent Covid-19 outbreak
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● Yai, 41 years old, Thai, Nurse in a district hospital
● Responsible for Covid-19 swab testing and caring for Covid “Patients Under Investigation”
● Feels highly stressed and exhausted
● Always mindful of physical distancing and travel restriction
● Facing financial problems
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● Poh, 40 years old, Thai, ICU Nurse
● Caring for Covid‐19 patients, self-isolation for one month due to hospital regulations
● Unable to wear the hospital’s uniform in public spaces, travel restriction
● Tracing app (Mor Chana) implemented
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● Fern, 36 years old, Burmese migrant working living on the Thai – Myanmar border, working in garment factory
● Interview was conducted in Karen language, and subsequently translated into Burmese.
● Did sewing at home since before the COVID-19 pandemic
● Difficult to access information about the disease due to language barrier
● Limitations on travel, and social distancing with friends and colleagues