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I wrote this on a separate post about NZ and their quest to not just "flatten the curve" but eliminate it...Within the context of a portfolio of assets, the risk of loss in those assets is decomposed between the Systematic and Non-Systematic (or Idiosyncratic) Risk. As a general rule, you can diversify away the Non-Systematic Risk. But the Systematic Risk is non-diversifiable. Even if you avoid the stock market, your assets are likely correlated with them so you can never avoid that Systematic Risk.

In an identical and very real manner, the same risk elements exist in society. Consider crime: you can diversify away some element of crime (e.g., greater concealed-carry, vigilance in the citizenry) but at some point, crime is gonna happen and you really can't eliminate crime. Indeed, just like with the stock market risk is unavoidable, you can never truly avoid crime. In many cases, society will try to eliminate this Systematic Risk and not only fail, but incur astronomical costs.

This is precisely what is happening in NZ: they are trying to eliminate the systematic risk of COVID19. In the process of failing to achieve that unattainable goal, they will incur astronomical costs (i.e., destroy the economy, increase personal stress and depression and suicide rates etc.). This is a sort of War on Drugs mentality but applied to COVID19. As noted above, this is what the Prime Minister said:

"As we have said from the start, our overall Covid-19 strategy remains elimination"

Make no doubt about it...Arden's "let's eliminate systematic risk" policy (and for what it's worth, National - the opposition party - agrees with this policy) is the DNC's dream policy.

For years NZ was in the Guinness Book of Records for being the country with the highest % of population traveling overseas...

They travel internationally all the time..

Forget Australia its usually the Pacific Islands and elsewhere...