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> Places that locked down immediately, like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and New Zealand, have mostly prevented spread within their borders, and are not experiencing the

> Places that locked down immediately, like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and New Zealand, have mostly prevented spread within their borders, and are not experiencing the same fallout as other nations. This isn't fully true. Look at Australia, which all but declared victory against Covid many months ago, but has continued to need rolling lockdowns as the virus spreads as soon as the lockdowns end. Lock downs just aren't a long-term solution, all they can do is "flatten the curve."

acqq 6y ago
The case of Australia doesn't disprove the fact that there are countries that managed to have even better response, with even less negative effects to their people. It illustrates how every environment has its unique challenges, but doesn't disprove that better responses (observable mostly in Asian countries) are possible.
soperj 6y ago
Australia didn't lock down immediately.
- nostromo 6y ago
  It wouldn't have mattered because they were Covid-free in June, only to implement a full lock-down (complete with military check-points) only two months later.
  - dhfb5 6y ago
    One state (Victoria) implemented a full lockdown, because they botched their international returned traveller quarantine. Life in the rest of Australia has been fairly normal, apart from interstate travel restrictions.
dhfb5 6y ago
Australia doesn’t have rolling lockdowns “as the virus spreads”. It does have a law-abiding population, geographic isolation and luck. In most states, life is almost normal, and has been for months. In New South Wales, for political reasons, they aren’t going all-out against Covid, but even there, they’ve managed to control the virus through effective contact tracing. Victoria, which became the worst affected state because of the second wave (from foreign arrivals), seems to have recovered well after a stringent lockdown, and is on track for full reopening. Ultimately, Eurasia is probably too interconnected, and the US is too individualistic to make a dent in Covid, but Australia is not a good example of failed lockdowns, since lockdowns actually worked extremely well there.

acqq 6y ago

The case of Australia doesn't disprove the fact that there are countries that managed to have even better response, with even less negative effects to their people. It illustrates how every environment has its unique challenges, but doesn't disprove that better responses (observable mostly in Asian countries) are possible.

soperj 6y ago

Australia didn't lock down immediately.

nostromo 6y ago
It wouldn't have mattered because they were Covid-free in June, only to implement a full lock-down (complete with military check-points) only two months later.
- dhfb5 6y ago
  One state (Victoria) implemented a full lockdown, because they botched their international returned traveller quarantine. Life in the rest of Australia has been fairly normal, apart from interstate travel restrictions.

dhfb5 6y ago

Australia doesn’t have rolling lockdowns “as the virus spreads”. It does have a law-abiding population, geographic isolation and luck. In most states, life is almost normal, and has been for months. In New South Wales, for political reasons, they aren’t going all-out against Covid, but even there, they’ve managed to control the virus through effective contact tracing. Victoria, which became the worst affected state because of the second wave (from foreign arrivals), seems to have recovered well after a stringent lockdown, and is on track for full reopening. Ultimately, Eurasia is probably too interconnected, and the US is too individualistic to make a dent in Covid, but Australia is not a good example of failed lockdowns, since lockdowns actually worked extremely well there.