First off...I'm talking about the USA...and specifically NY and the other states where the shutdowns were put in place....not Australia.
Second...maybe you need to read up on "herd immunity" a bit more before you tell me I don't know anything about it.
What is Herd Immunity and How Can We Achieve It With COVID-19? - COVID-19 - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
There are two ways to get there...since we don't have a vaccine for COVID-19 and won't for at least another 6-12 months...maybe more...
...the other way to achieve heard immunity is *allow* more people to become infected, and those who do not get sick, will help protect those who do by achieving herd immunity. That's already been shown with this virus that *many* people have tested positive but NOT gotten sick...so we were on the path toward "heard immunity"...but by forcing all the healthy people to stay inside...they are now *temporarily* isolated from the virus, so those getting sick from it are not seeing any benefit from the ones that are not, because we are not getting to the needed level of herd immunity.
If you want to put all your money on some vaccines that may or may not work (notice how the flu vaccines are hit-n-miss from year to year)...that's your personal choice, but there are other, natural ways to maintain and develop immunity, so please don't preach about the man-made way as the only/best way.
I haven't been sick with any kind of viral flu or bacterial illness since I was a kid...and it's not just because some people around me have been vaccinated.
It's interesting how many people always think the best way to tackle a natural problem is with a man-made solution. If I had a nickel for every man-made solution that failed or had serious side-effects, I would a very rich man.
When they let all the healthy people go back out...there will be a second wave, and still no herd immunity...so don't be surprised that the countries that have managed to lower their infection rates, will suddenly see them go back up...unless of course, you guys in Australia plan to all stay inside for another 6-12 months until there is a vaccine...?
That's just not realistic, is it...?...or maybe you're going to tell me that the economy in Australia works much differently, and keeping the country shut down for months will not have any dire effects long-term, and that I "don't understand" how that works down there...?
And that is the real point that people who are highly fearful of the virus want to ignore...the long-term negative effects on life that a destroyed economy will have for the next decade or more. Maybe for a lot seniors that's not as big a concern as the immediate fear of dying from the virus since they are in the higher risk category, and that AFA any long-term economic fallout, well the younger generation will just have to work it out for themselves...
...but I think even us older folks might want to at least think about what we're leaving behind, as much as we do about what's still left for us ahead.
Now some of the experts are saying that we can expect this coronavirus and it's mutations to become a seasonal thing...which may make it very hard to create the right vaccine in time for whatever expected mutation and new strain might be arriving.
So are we going to plan on shutting down the world every year for a few months to avoid the spread...?