Isolation , ie. locking up the healthy can never work completely.

We still have to go to the doctor, chemist, vet, hardware store, the service station, & far too many things to be sure of not contacting a carrier.

Even if we buy our groceries by internet, we still have someone distributing the stuff to the stores, someone picking our groceries, & delivering them. Without testing everyone in this chain very regularly, we don't have real isolation, just a pretense.

China has recently discovered the virus in fish from a certain distribution point. We & Germany have discovered clusters in meat works. There is no certainty that our food is clear. Aidans idea of testing everyone regularly, & logically isolating the infected, rather than the healthy is the only way to really stop the thing.

I doubt there is much chance of developing a really effective vaccine for a mutating virus. Flu vaccines are only moderately successful, & they have been at that for decades.

Incidentally how the hell did someone come up with the crazy idea that our response to this thing is a left/right thing. God some people are so crazy they should be isolated, permanently.

Hasbe3en, that was one of my points, that a seemingly healthy virus free guy suddenly got it and infected others.
So it's still a risk not isolating the people we believe to be virus free, when all of a sudden they present with the virus.
What I asked or maybe speculated was; what if Sweden decided to let the virus run it's course as they felt it was futile trying to contain, let alone stop it completely, and let it take the sick, elderly and most vulnerable, so that it also helped their budget by eliminating one of the bigger drains on the public purse.
As I said, it sounds macabre, but govts are made of just the same people as the community, only sicker and mentally wanting.
I believe it comes down to either you want to ignore the virus, and continue as normal and let it take it's course and the people it affects, thereby keeping the economy going, but the hospitals full, for an unknown period.
Or we isolate and try to prolong the inevitable, but destroy the economy and still destroy a great majority of the population anyway.
The net loss of human life is going to be the same, the only difference will be the economy and the lively-hood of the survivors.
It's like that proverbial 'bully', you can try to avoid him but sooner or later he will find you and you will get whatever he has in store for you, only in this case, it's death.

SR, Foxy,

SR started this post to try and show that "right wingers" that are calling for economies to be openned are failing compared to the more extreme measures taken by left whinge governments. As an economic conservative, I am quite happy to point out the obvious flaws in his posturing. In my view the control of Covid19 is marathon not a sprint and the virus is going to last far longer than harsh lockdowns.

Firstly, it should be noted that the Swedish economy has actually grown which shows that at least economically their policy has been sound and while the total death rate per capita has climbed, the rate of people dying has slowed. All Sweden's neighbouring countries are looking at drastically reduced economic output.

Secondly, in spite of the drastic lockdowns the virus is still present in every major country and the tolerance for harsh lock downs has evaporated as the resultant economic conditions start to bite. Even in NZ where Comrade Jacinda implemented a massive lockdown and drastically reduced the incidence of Covid, the country's economy is crashing with a -1.6% growth in the first quarter with 1/10 kiwi mortgage payments in arrears small businesses closing everywhere and massive unemployment.

A classic example of the left whinge hubris is the cock up under Chairman Dan whose incompetence and ideological application of lock down waiver on demonstrations has led to a second spike in Covid-19

Why do you assume that people of the right supported Sweden’s management of COVID? I would have thought the opposite was true. Conservatives are the one who supported strict lock downs, not the socialist left.

I cannot believe you bed wetters? You love lock down despite the obvious deleterious effects that will cause thousands of deaths over the next few years or longer. You love social distancing unless it is some demo for literally a two bit chiseller who picked the wrong cop to annoy. And you love the fact state and federal governments are putting us into a horrendous depression and debt. As I am in my early 70's I will not experience the bulk of your stupidity but I will never stop reminding you of it.
One more thing when the truth finally surfaces you will all end up looking stupid and Trump will once again show how he really has his finger on the pulse of the world. History judges us all and Trump will be a beacon for the last few years!

Easing restrictions from what our government appears
to be saying is going to be a gradual process.
The government has overseas lessons to consider.

For example the lesson from Singapore is the risk of a
second wave is very, very, real.

Another lesson from the US, UK, and Italy is that once
the virus gets out of control, even if you put in very
strong restrictions, if they're put in too late they
don't work the same way.

We're told that we're lucky that the virus has not
gotten into very many nursing homes. That we haven't
had huge prison-based outbreaks and that the virus has
not impacted many of our more regional towns.

But that does not mean it can't happen in the future.

Experts advise that lifting restrictions slowly and
keeping a close eye on the effects by testing extensively
is the way forward. And of course, doing the basics like
washing our hands regularly, minimising our physical
contact with other people is important. And the last
restrictions that we should expect to see lifted is our
international borders. But that's still a long way off.

Respiratory physician Greg Fox of the Woolcock Institute
of Medical Research who also works at the Royal Prince
Alfred Hospital says that if we're aiming to eradicate of
suppress the virus we need to ensure that it does not
overwhelm the health system. The health system has to be
prepared and ready to cope with any possible surge in the
future.

Australia's been fortunate. We have bought time to be able
to prepare for the pandemic because of the rapid measures
our government has taken. This has allowed our health
systems around the country to prepare additional intensive
care beds, do large-scale testing and implement programs
for community monitoring of people with mild symptoms.

Dr Fox says we are prepared.

We can only hope he's right.