RESTRICTIONS START TO EASE. BUT NOT YET HERE

Just 108 new cases yesterday. We need an exit strategy, too: "Austria and Denmark... became the first European countries to announce concrete plans to reopen their societies after coronavirus lockdowns... Belgium, France, Spain...  are similarly examining how they will loosen some of the restrictions." Here's a plan for us, to start very soon.

Just 108 new cases here yesterday. We urgently need an exit strategy, as European nations already do:  

Austria and Denmark on Monday became the first European countries to announce concrete plans to reopen their societies after coronavirus lockdowns, hoping they may have already weathered the worst of the first wave of the pandemic.

Belgium, France, Spain and others are similarly examining how they will loosen some of the restrictions on public life....

Both Austria and Denmark plan to lift restrictions in stages. In Austria, small shops are slated to reopen April 13, with larger stores to follow on May 1. Restaurants, hotels and schools may be able to reopen in mid-May — though that decision will be assessed at the end of April. Strict rules about masks, social distancing and the number of people allowed into a store at any one time will remain in place but public events may resume in July...

In Denmark, the plan is for nursery and primary schools to reopen April 13, while companies will resume business gradually.

In Australia we should also quickly ease restrictions - but in stages, and always with an eye to putting them back on if the virus starts spreading. And to repeat yet again, this must be done while increasing quarantine controls on the infectious and stepping up assistance to those at most risk - the aged and ill.

I'd envisage something like this - and it could start in a week or two:

Stage 1: schools return for term 2, not least because children are far less likely to catch the virus and even less likely to die from it. Their education is suffering badly, and parents are forced to stay at home to look after them. The more extreme and alienating social distancing rules are also relaxed -  such as bans on visiting children or parents, or on traveling within the state for non-essential reasons. But restrictions on mass gatherings must meanwhile be observed.

Stage 2: cafes, bars, restaurants and similar businesses are allowed to reopen, provided strict distancing rules are maintained, and spacing rules enforced.

Stage 3: crowd restrictions progressively eased. State barriers lifted.

Stage 4: Bans on travel overseas  lifted (but not for cruise ships), but quarantine for incoming passengers maintained.

State 5: Quarantine for all  incoming passengers scrapped, but screening maintained and those sick still forced into quarantine. This latest restriction may not be lifted for months.

I am just a layman and experts should improve on what I've suggested. I just put this out to start a discussion that I'm astonished we have not had.

From the above story:

But European leaders are cautious, since some countries that have sought to return to normal, such as Singapore and Japan, have seen waves of new infections.

Two responses...

One: Yes, this virus will wax and wane, at least until a vaccine is found. The restrictions can be eased or tightened to fit.

Two: We either learn to manage and live with this virus (as we do with the flu), or we stay into lockdown until it is eliminated (which could take years, causing unimaginable suffering and losses. and as as we do for no other disease).