[015UUZn8aEvW]

The US has 70 times the population of New Zealand, an underclass that's larger in percentage terms and less functional than New Zealand's, a porous border through which literally millions of people pass illegally-outside of the government's control, and tens of millions of illegal residents who have illegal or no ID and studiously avoid being tracked by the government. New Zealand is an island country with only a handful of international airports. There was no possible way that the US could ever have implemented New Zealand's policy successfully, even if Americans wanted to do so.

[PlunderBunny]

Sure - I think I agree that the same approach wouldn't have worked in the USA. But it's also not a binary choice between 'lockdown until elimination' and no lockdowns, but having said that, I don't know what the US or similarly large countries should have done.