> You don’t have hundreds of thousands of border crossing work commuters and truck drivers who would drive through any “closed” border like e.g in the EU or bet

> You don’t have hundreds of thousands of border crossing work commuters and truck drivers who would drive through any “closed” border like e.g in the EU or between US states. I hear this assumption a lot but actually, you do. Australia's lockdowns and quarantines aren't limited to the international borders. Victoria is currently quarantined from South Australia and New South Wales. Victoria's granularity [0] is what I'd say is approximately equivalent to US counties. That "county" granularity isn't just theoretical. During one of the longest lockdowns, Melbourne, Victoria's capital city, was cut off from the rest of the state. Imagine cutting off LA or the Bay Area from the rest of California and that's essentially what happened. This also happened briefly in the EU. Despite Schengen, free travel was suspended and most of the national borders were closed. In both cases (Australian states and Schengen), cross-border commuters and freight were generally permitted to continue but were regulated. [0]: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/victorian-travel-permit-system https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/victorian-travel-permit-s...