Having closed off their island to outsiders for at least three weeks, residents of Koh Larn marched through their neighborhoods looking for locals stricken with Covid-19.
Koh Larn Community President Boonched Boonying, neighborhood leaders and personnel from Koh Larn Medical Center manned coronavirus screening stations at the island’s two piers to check residents returning from the mainland for fever or other symptoms of the deadly virus.
The 44 people then paraded through Koh Larn’s streets, checking on many of the 1,200 families living there, screening them for disease and providing information on the procedures the island’s leaders plan to take to make sure Covid-19 stays in Pattaya and not on their island.
Volunteers will check anyone returning to Koh Larn, keep daily logs of those traveling and report anyone with symptoms to Pattaya authorities and have them removed from the island. Those having been in high-risk areas on the mainland will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
While residents say their businesses will be crippled by the March 28-April 28 shutdown, they are taking solace in the hope they can remain an island of safety amid a spreading pandemic.