[threeseed]

That is what happens when you don't act early.

You end up with aggressive, last-resort measures like extended lockdowns.

Hence my point that there is minimal downside to being overly cautious when you first hear about new variants.

[AndrewBissell]

I call this the "No True Lockdown" argument. If they fail to indefinitely prevent significant outbreaks (and in nearly every case they have), well, it just means they weren't implemented soon enough. Even if they drag on for weeks and months with zero cases, only to have an outbreak at the slightest loosening of restrictions. I guess the idea is that if the entire world did this at once the virus would disappear? Completely unworkable, and almost surely false, given the existence of animal reservoirs.

Your entire framing of these policy choices as inevitable and the only option is baseless. Australia and New Zealand used to be held up as the shining lights of "just act fast enough and you can avoid the need for any sustained restrictions" and now we are seeing just how well kicking the can in that way actually works, and the lengths that must be gone to keep kicking it.

[NickNameNick]

I don't know, I'm still pretty happy to be living in new Zealand, with our death rate 1/300th of the US or UK.

[somewhereoutth]

Working in China.