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Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus
View it from economics or mental health or however you want, but I can tell you having family in both of these countries, that neither Australia or NZ has weathered this storm in a way that would permit their respective population to be content enough to pat themselves on the back for being what amounts to the best of the worst.
People lost their livelihoods due to lack of foreign investment and tourism etc. and many people still saw loved ones die despite more harsh restrictions in place - neither country was above this despite their handling of the pandemic either. Can much be learned by looking at it now, yes, I'll give you that, but considering the mental health, and physical health fallout that is still so far removed from being known, together with the hesitancy for widespread tourism to get back to pre-pandemic levels in either country, much of this is still not yet quantifiable.
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The argument is not that they were unaffected thanks to COVID-zero. The argument is that they were affected less, and in some respects significantly so.
Did people die in NZ from COVID? Yes. 28 people.
Did people die in Australia from COVID? Yes. About 1,500 people.
How about Canada's 28,000? 720,000 in the US? We're talking 0.0005% and 0.005% vs. 0.07% and 0.2% respectively. Many people still saw loved ones die? Sure, but it absolutely pales in comparison. If the US had the same death rate as New Zealand they would be at 2,000 deaths, not over 700k. Saying "people still died" misses the difference in severity between these things completely.
No, no one was "above" the effects. But when it comes to deaths, mental health, physical health, economic impact, people losing their jobs, etc. there is nothing to support the idea that COVID-zero was anything but the best approach available at the time when it was viable. There just isn't.
If your argument is that the pandemic has been tough on the entire world, you'll find no one to dispute that. But when we're talking about the approach of countries pre-vaccine, we can measure that. We do not need to wait 5 years to do so. And given that the vaccine changes the environment around the world completely, you'll get no more data than you have today on it. What you will get is data pulled from a different environment. Whether New Zealand builds upon their success in an environment of vaccine availability is a new issue and a new variable that will heavily dictate what 5 years from now looks like. But the original point was whether lockdowns worked, and whether COVID-zero was a viable approach. They did, and it was. It was the best approach by any measure. That doesn't mean it is today, but that's not the argument.