[yesenadam]

> Half the country demonized the other half of the country

And also demonized Australia - "fascist"! "authoritarian"! - for being 6 months behind in COVID and still giving a shit when the USA already didn't. For us in Australia, early 2020 was 6 months of the USA looking like a disaster movie while almost noone had it here.

[josephcsible]

But did Australia's draconian lockdowns actually even accomplish anything other than delaying the inevitable? Hasn't COVID been going strong there since Christmas, despite everything they put their citizens through?

[wizofaus]

What is life but delaying the inevitability of death? ;) It's not an unreasonable question, and with 20/20 hindsight some of the more draconian restrictions possibly wouldn't be justifiable. But we did take it very very seriously and saved ourselves the nightmarish scenes seen in many other countries that put extreme levels of strain on healthcare systems and robbed huge numbers of people's lives prematurely. Of the deaths now, the vast majority are among those 80+, and those who have chosen not to get vaccinated. Hospitalisations are still high, and negatively impacting the health care system's ability to provide quality care, but epidemiologists seem confident it will peak soon even without heavy handed restrictions/ mandates. There's no doubt we could have dealt with it better but I'm still grateful our governments generally listened to the health advice given to them.

[coffexx]

Pretty much, ripping through my city now. There isn't a lot of sentiment for liberty/freedoms here, so the authoritarians had a field day. We'll probably do it all again next time too.