[garmaine]

> We went into a tough lockdown, stamped out the virus

Unfortunately no one here in the USA in a position of power recognizes that this should be the goal. Instead the lockdowns last only long enough for the ICU capacity to free up, then reopening the economy becomes the major goal.

We need to stamp this virus out entirely, like you and your neighbors in NZ and TW have done.

[xfitm3]

It shouldn't be a goal. The virus cannot be stopped with our current medical technology, but you can certainly punish people into poverty and homelessness with draconian lockdowns.

[garmaine]

You say it is not possible, but it absolutely is as it has happened. There are countries in this world which have had community spread and then stamped the virus out entirely, like Taiwan and New Zealand have. There are countries which have been in as bad a situation as we are (like Australia and South Korea) and then gotten their numbers down to the point where TW/NZ were at their peak. So there is a pathway from rampant community spread to eradication.

[newusr1207]

These countries you mention are vastly different in terms of population size and geography.

Also, pretending that there are no costs associated with strict lockdowns is terribly flawed.

[garmaine]

> These countries you mention are vastly different in terms of population size and geography.

Yes, South Korea and Australia span the gamut. So do Taiwan and New Zealand. The USA is somewhere in-between.

> Also, pretending that there are no costs associated with strict lockdowns is terribly flawed.

Those costs are largely suffered by this lockdown-reopen-lockdown cycle, without the benefit of getting rid of the disease. Indeed our trajectory is worse economically, because there's no light at the end of the tunnel.

Life in Taiwan and New Zealand goes on pretty much uninterrupted right now. We could have had that. We still could, if severe actions were taken.

[GhostVII]

Why should the US have an extremely costly lockdown (which will almost certainly fail) to stamp out a virus for which we will have a vaccine being rolled out in a week? Mask orders and other low-impact restrictions are great but I don't understand why you would try to get rid of the virus with lockdowns at this point.

[soupson]

It’s going to take at least a year to get the vaccine at scale and a significant portion of the population straight up won’t take it because they don’t want 5G autism.

[dboreham]

Because 100-200k people will die while the vaccine is being rolled out.

[plasma]

There were many people (other politicians, news/press stories, etc) saying it was unachievable and unrealistic, which added more pressure to our Premier to abandon his plans because it was keeping businesses shutdown and impacting mental health.

As you mention NZ did a great job (and the PM even offered to consult to other health officials [1] in how they carried out the lockdown), such leadership should be commended and people resisting should get out of the way to let leaders lead.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-newzea...