Australia is currently in the grips of another major outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19, with new patients flooding into hospitals and funeral homes struggling to find room for the fallen. Or at least that’s the impression you might get by looking at some of the headlines and the response from the government. The underlying reality, however, is… somewhat different. It’s undoubtedly true that the Aussies have seen an uptick in new cases, and there have indeed been some hospitalizations and even deaths, sadly. But the numbers for the entire country don’t come anywhere near what you’ll find in a single county in Florida these days. And yet the response from the government was on the opposite end of the range of extremes. More than half of the population of the continent is back on “strict” lockdown orders, with significant penalties being imposed for things such as walking your dog. (Reuters)

Australia saw a record daily number of new coronavirus cases this year on Saturday, with the country’s most populous states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland recording a total of 361 cases of the highly infectious Delta variant.

With about 15 million people in the three states, or 60% of Australia’s population, under a strict lockdown, the country also reported five coronavirus-related deaths, one of the highest this year.

NSW suffered its worst pandemic day, reporting 319 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases, with Sydney and neighbouring regional centres spanning 200 km (120 miles) of coastline under a stay-at-home order for six weeks already.

On Saturday, out of a population of more than 15 million people in Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales, they reported slightly more than 350 new cases. Five people died. Five. Out of 15 million.

The details of the lockdown orders sound rather extreme, to put it mildly. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been spreading the word that things may look significantly better “by Christmas,” but for the moment they have to stop people from “doing the wrong thing.” The public has also been informed that police will be exercising even more control and they are urging residents to report their neighbors who may not be in compliance.

What sort of things can’t you do? First and foremost, you’re not supposed to leave your home aside from traveling for a handful of essential tasks. You can go out to walk for exercise, but not with anyone from outside of your household. (This includes walking your dog.) You can shop for food or medicine, but almost everything else is considered “nonessential.”

One podcast I listen to each week is hosted by two guys from Australia. They described a situation where a person was taken into custody for window shopping. That’s right. Not only can’t you shop for nonessential items, but you aren’t even allowed to look into the window of the store.

Of course, to be fair to the Australian government, they are dealing with a major hurdle that is worse than what you’ll see in the United States. They’ve only managed to vaccinate 20 percent of their population so far, so the Delta variant could potentially generate a significant new caseload if it gets some wind in its sails. But thus far, that simply hasn’t happened. So what do you think? Is this a sign of sensible precautions to make sure a worst-case scenario doesn’t come to pass? Or is this a massive overreaction to a few hundred cases scattered across a handful of neighborhoods? It’s their country so they are free to do as they please, but it all seems like a bit much if you ask me.