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What did Australia do? I can't help it but feel that my country is doing everything absolutely wrong.

"As of 12:00 am June 3, 2020, Chile has 113,628 confirmed cases of COVID-19 within its borders. Chile remains in Phase 4 of the outbreak, i.e., uncontrolled and widespread community transmission."




> I can't help it but feel that my country is doing everything absolutely wrong.

Last year Australia suffer a horrendous year of nation wide bushfires (wildfires) and the current government handled that response very badly.

For that disaster they where very slow to act and appeared to have very little in the way of a plan.

I think they learnt a lot from that earlier mistake, because their handling of the COVID-19 crisis has been almost perfect.

> What did Australia do?

The first response was to limit travel form overseas and to also require anyone coming in from overseas to spend 14 days in quarantine.

The general public also went in lock down.

That meant you could only go outside to buy food, go to the doctor, go to the chemist or go to work and you were also allowed 1 hour of limited exercise every day.

Non essential business where force to close (pub, clubs gyms, restaurants, etc).

Public spaces where people could congregate (i.e. beaches parks etc) where also closed.

Businesses where encouraged to let their workers work from home where possible.

All interstate travel basically came end as many states imposed border closures.

Police would enforce these rules and they would also enforce social distancing rules in public spaces.

For example if you where found to be outside of your local area you would get a fine.

Also if you where found to be loitering in a public space you would get warned and repeat offender fined.

Because of the forced business closures many people became instantly unemployed.

To help with this disruption the government also introduced big changes to the social welfare system to help people with this disruption.

It also introduce anti-eviction laws for renters.

These are just some of the changes made and they all helped the country get on top of the virus.

Now after several months of these restrictions we are seeing the light at the end of what has be a very dark tunnel.


This fits my own experience as an Australian. Nice clear write-up.

One thing I would add is that Australia had a plan ready to go before the pandemic even hit [0]. Complete with already passed legislation.

0. https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Cont...


Thanks for laying it out so clearly. I'm sorry that you had to go through something so terrible, but it's great that you took it as a lesson; we've been through a lot of shit (earthquakes, civil unrest) and simply don't get it.

> To help with this disruption the government also introduced big changes to the social welfare system to help people with this disruption.

Chile has been avoiding getting to this step by sacrificing its citizen's health, and lives.




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