I guess we can all live in a perfect world, thanks to Senator Rand Paul.

Lockdowns work.

Victoria Australia hasn't had an infection or a death for almost 2 months.

How's it going in the US?

What happened in Australia is one of the worst examples in the entire world. Its hard to believe a citizen could observe such draconian measures and say, yeah, thats good for us.

No, it's one of the best examples of how to properly manage a pandemic. That's how we get to have 59 days without a case of infection.

The kiwis got it mostly right in the first wave.  Melbourne got it right in the second.

Herd immunity does not work, not when your loved ones are part of the herd, as are you.

Americans value their freedom and get sort of weirded out when a government that can't produce consistent and non conflicting information attempts to lock them down for an illness with a 99% survival rate, CDC's numbers, not mine. I don't like what was done in the US in response to Corona, but if I were subjected to what the Australians were forced to endure I would be seeking a new home as quickly as I could.

I kinda prefer enduring pain for the greater good than being selfish and gambling on everyone I know or care about being quaintly out of the 1%, and helping the spread and endangering my fellow countrymen.

Yes, I know....it's pointless 'debating'.

Well, numbers do matter. Take the black death for instance... the numbers were actually high enough to significantly impact the earths population. What was infuriating was the selfishness of those folks who brought it all on themselves!

Look at how irresponsible and dirty they were!

What if back in March we had increased our hospital capacity with temporary

hospitals? If you get sick and test positive you go to the hospital

until you are no longer contagious, this would slow the spread of covid.

Then we take all the precautions we can masks and everything,

and go on with life and business.

Right now the virus is spreading and some are facing financial ruin.

Long a Holdout From Covid-19 Restrictions, Sweden Ends Its Pandemic Experiment

Government imposes mandatory measures after failing to contain new surge in infections

Very dubious about the concept of 'containment'.  My bet is that it is an effective delaying strategy at best.  Be interesting to see what happens when Oz decides to open back up, unless they choose to live forever in lockdown.  Which would also be interesting.

How about 60 days with zero infections ....in Victoria which had the strictest lockdown....[and we were the worst state in Oz back then]...and the result was a 'normal' Christmas.  Meanwhile, the US today recorded 3800 deaths in one day....and they're treating patients in ambulances in the UK because they're reaching critical mass....the time when people who might recover won't...simly because there's no-one available to treat them all.

Irrefutable proof that lockdown works.

No matter how the deniers want to spin it.  It does work.

In fact....it's the only thing that will.  10s of thousands of people will die world wide before the roll-out of vaccines is wide-spread enough to put a dent in the figures.  That's going to take much of 2021.

If your idiot neighbours value 'freedom' over life....just save yourself and self-isolate.

Needless to say....fuckers in the northern beaches of NSW got too eager....and now Vic has 6 new cases.  Reason is...we don't close borders instantly...but for some absurd reason give 24 hours notice.

That's not how lockdown should happen.

Probably the first 'International' travel that safely restarts will be between Oz and NZ [if you can call it International.....just over the pond] ....simply because isolation is pretty easy when you're in the emptiest bit of the planet...

Those beach/saltwater virus strains are bugger all.

What you report does not falsify my hypothesis/suspicion.  Only time will tell.

Lockdowns have negative trade-offs that have not really been fairly acknowledged, let alone been objectively measured.  That's not being a 'denier' (which I consider a garbage term, no offense).

There are pretty dramatic cultural and demographic differences, to say the least, but my state is roughly comparable to Victoria in population (7.2mil here, maybe 6.5mil there) and configuration (1 major metropolis).  The people here are highly compliant with lockdown rules, masking and social distancing (more rural, low-incidence areas less so, of course).  Despite that we are being hit hard with a second wave significantly worse than the first in terms of cases/day (peak is ~60% higher so far).  Only saving grace, such as it is, the number of deaths/day is no worse than in the first wave and overall mortality has actually been dropping with the increase in the numerator.  We humans get a little testy when we can't outsmart little bits of RNA.  I suspect that is due to ignorance (in the literal, not pejorative, sense) of this particular virus and faulty assumptions leading to faulty, ineffective policies.

Another interesting wrinkle to this is the near complete disappearance of (diagnosed) influenza this year which remains unexplained.

That's explained long ago already...improved isolation...less crowd mingling....masks...etc...all the shit Covid caused...by product...every transmitable disease is also reduced.  In Oz the combined current death toll from both Covid AND Flu is less than just Flu alone pre Covid.

Again, irrefutable proof that the lockdown has worked.

Sure...commerce takes a hit...and that's a negative...but at least you're still alive to enjoy being broke.

Better than rich and dead...