Easy. Because stupid. People are stupid

Common sense is not as common as you'd expect..

26% of Americans believe Trumps facts over the CDC, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and medical scientists. That's scary.

Well, according to anti-vaxxers MDs and such are paid shills for the Big Pharma and are only in it for the money. Unlike holistic healers and naturopathic doctors (NDs or "not doctors) only have their best interests in mind. Which is why they're perfectly willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for "treatment" usually homeopathic medicine which is sugar pills or water.

I mean, there's no cure for stupid!

"People" don't make decisions. Politicians do. So the question is whether politicians accept or reject recommendations by scientists.

Yeah, sad but that's how populism works, at least in South America.

Maybe it's because that politician has advisors who are doctors. Maybe it's because those advisors DIDN'T say and the end of January that he didn't expect the COVID-19 virus to become a serious problem. Maybe those advisors were the only so experts not to say that people should NOT wear mask as did the CDC, the WHO, and the US Surgeon General. And maybe it's because, had the president said he totally agreed with Dr. Fauci all liberal would have automatically go against him.

I suspect it's more to do with New Zealand having a population about the size of Ireland and an area about the size of the UK.

And the UK.

A. Ireland is still too much influenced politically by the catholic church. Another example is Poland, and, of course, Italy, the Latin American countries, as well as the Philippines, where the 'much stable' political situation is partly in the hands of the church and the historical connection between the landowners and the church. And, surprise, surprise, the major religion in Hungary is ... you guessed it, the catholic faith. B. What a perfect description of your island neighbour to the east!

True, but the population still has to do as they're told. New Zealand went into lockdown very early (a couple of weeks after covid arrived in the country) and stayed that way for 4 weeks before easing restrictions over the course of about a month. The result was in a country of 5 million people there have been "only" 22 deaths to date (all of which were people from rest homes or otherwise health impaired) and as of today "only" 1,548 cases total. There are still cases but they're all NZ'ers returning home from overseas so the government is still expecting another wave but intends to lockdown again if it happens.

Sure, being an island with small population is an advantage, but listening to health expert is much more important! My home country even has a shared border with China and the population is pretty dense, but people wear masks, wash their hands, keep distance and start lockdown very early into the pandemic. It's been a few months since the last community transmission case here and now life is back to normal. The border is still closed but the good thing is we can now enjoy summer holidays together, business is back and everyone is happy. Really hope other countries take the pandemic more seriously, listening to health professionals, or at least wearing masks when the virus is still around so the world can be back to normal again very very soon.

But the majority of the New Zealand population is in a handful of places. The population density number is pretty useless it's used in conjunction with a map of same.

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Trying this again: Exactly. I wish people would use a little common sense before they start tearing down America. New Zealand has 4.7 million people TOTAL. The population of New York CITY (yes, just the city, not the state) has a population of over 8 million living in a space that is that is two times bigger than New Zealand (New York City is bigger and more populated than all of New Zealand, and it's just ONE city in the USA). Think about that, people, before you spout off.

Confirmed 1,549 Recovered 1,506 Deaths 22. Its been 77 days since last local infection (all current cases are returning citizens who are put into an immediate 14 day quarantine upon arrival). I'd say out of 5 million ppl that's not really "a lot of infected".

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From VIC in the lockdown zone and it's not fun. Annoying how some people think the rules don't apply to them

I'm in SA too, a couple of hours from the border, I'm feeling ya!

You must be a fellow Qlder? I think Anastasia did a great job of keeping the borders shut and not cowering into pressure to reopen.