Thailand sealed the island of Phuket off from the rest of the country to keep COVID-19 cases down - but it also separated families who don't know when they'll be able to reconnect

• Thailand has placed restrictions on domestic travel to the island of Phuket to shield it from COVID-19.
• The restrictions have cut off Thai residents and mainland expats from the island.
• Some Phuket residents say the restrictions have left them stranded.

When the Thai government delivered the news, Terry Surin said it left him in a stupor.

On July 30, the Thai government announced plans to seal off the country's tourist island of Phuket. The order banned entry to the island via domestic air travel, closed marinas and piers, and locked the island's Chatchai gateway, Phuket's primary connection to the Thai mainland. The Tourism Authority of Thailand said the travel restrictions were intended to safeguard the Phuket Sandbox - the island's international tourism program for vaccinated tourists.

Yet for Surin, a 35-year-old Thai citizen, it meant an immediate and unforeseen relocation from his hometown of Chiang Mai. Surin is a support member at The Dawn, a mental health rehabilitation center with multiple locations across Thailand. He had been assigned to work in Phuket for three months starting in late August, but the island's sudden closure meant that to make it onto Phuket, he had to bump up the date of his move - immediately.

"When I heard the news, my first thoughts focused on the long drive," Surin told Insider. "My team and I suddenly had to head down to Phuket with no way of knowing how long the restrictions would last - something we still don't know."

Surin and three other staff members jumped into a Toyota Fortuner for the two-day, 950-mile journey. The drive started in Thailand's Lanna countryside and passed through Bangkok, weaving along the Gulf of Thailand, before making it to Phuket. Surin said the team arrived just hours before the closure, with a mechanical issue nearly derailing it all.

"We got here right before the border closed at night, on August 2," Surin said. "It was such a rush."

But now that Surin and his coworkers made it into Phuket, they face another challenge: Getting out. Because the island is closed off from the rest of Thailand, they don't know when they'll be able to leave it.

Homesick in their own country

Wichuda Pawin, 35, the head psychiatric nurse at The Dawn, joined Surin on the trip. She said they both supported the government's decision to close off Phuket, but her emotions were mixed.

"I have no spouse or children. It's only me, so it wasn't a huge problem. Still, knowing I can't fly back to see my family, I do feel homesick at times," Pawin said.

Saowanee Sittirak, 38, works as a waitress at Kan Eang Pier, a seafood restaurant on Phuket's southeastern beach of Rawai. The 48-year-old eatery - which describes itself as one of Phuket's oldest restaurants - caters to tourists with waterfront dining beneath Banyan trees and with vistas of passing boats.

Sittirak said she also wrestles with the restrictions, as her family lives outside Phuket. Her parents and siblings are based in the city of Nakhon Si Thammarat, 160 miles west of Phuket, and she now has no way to visit them without being locked out. She would previously visit them roughly once a month, but with the new restrictions, she said those plans are on hold.

"Right now, we can't go anywhere outside the island," she said. "In the past, there weren't many infections, but now with the Delta variant, Phuket needs to protect itself. And I just can't stop working. I need to survive."

Sittirak said she earns the minimum wage in Phuket, 336 Baht per day, or about $10, and had to cut back her hours when the pandemic put an abrupt stop to the tourism scene in 2020. Her earnings are half of what they were prior to the pandemic.

"Right now, it's so quiet here, in terms of business, everyone was affected financially from COVID-19," she said. "We just have to keep on fighting. We have to endure."

Thailand has has confirmed 928,314 COVID-19 cases and 7,734 deaths since the pandemic began. It's struggling to contain the virus: August 16 marked the sixth consecutive day of the country exceeding 21,000 new cases. Bangkok and its neighboring provinces are currently locked down. While Phuket officials have also reported a rise in COVID-19 cases, the 210-square-mile island has recorded 14 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic began, far fewer than the rest of Thailand.

There's also a stark contrast between the country's coronavirus response on the mainland and in Phuket, particularly when it comes to vaccines. As of August 15, 91% of Phuket's population had received at least one vaccine dose and 70% was fully vaccinated, per the Thailand Public Relations Department. Nationally, Thailand's vaccination rates for partially and fully vaccinated residents is much lower, at about 25.8% and 8% respectively.

Sparing patients on Phuket from infection

Insider spoke to a physician at the Internal Medicine Clinic in Phuket's Bangkok Hospital, Siriroj, who said he supported closing Phuket off from the rest of Thailand. The physician, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his privacy, said the decision to close the island would spare his patients from infection and preserve Phuket's medical resources.

"The issue isn't international tourists who are well screened or Phuket residents, who are usually respectful of safety measures," he said. "Instead, the biggest infection risks are likely to come from other Thais, traveling from provinces with lower vaccination rates."

Unlike Bangkok, where COVID-19 infections have overrun hospital capacity, Phuket's health providers have been able to continue services, he said. At his hospital, located in the heart of Phuket City, access to health care remains intact, the physician said, with patients able to get same-day service for lab work, imaging, and medicine.

The Phuket Provincial Public Health Office, which monitors infections, reported that as of August 15, Phuket hospital bed usage stood at 71.18%, with 239 beds available.

The way out

The Thai government initially sealed off Phuket with effect from August 3-16, but with national infection numbers remaining high, the government has extended restrictions through the end of August.

The extension includes an amendment permitting re-entry to international visitors who arrived via the Phuket Sandbox and those living and working in Phuket. To re-enter, Phuket locals have to test negative for infection, prove they are fully vaccinated, and deliver proof of working status and residential address.

For some, like Surin, this allowance changes little. Thais with family outside Phuket have to wait it out and hope matters improve, he said. The costs in time and money are prohibitive, he said, and though vaccinated, he doesn't want to risk getting sick.

"If we fly in and out, first, we'd have to do the new paperwork. And second, we'd have to do the COVID-19 test, which is 2,000 baht each time [$60 US], so it's a huge challenge and risk if we have to travel back home," Surin said. "Truthfully, it's not an option at all."

A spokesperson for the Tourism Authority of Thailand declined to comment for this story.