I'd rather our borders were fully closed until a vaccine or effective treatment, and we could abandon all social distancing measures myself. Goods can travel without people.
Definitely think NZ got it right in that respect.
I agree turtling is attractive in this case but I don’t see how it’d ever be a practical approach for the UK.
Aus and NZ are geographically isolated with relatively few international travellers, aviation is the major access path. The UK may be an island but we have Europe only 30 miles away. We have legitimate access by air, rail, sea, illegal entry but all sorts of methods and the global mega hub that’s London in the corner of the country. As Italy found out early on if you close the airports determined people will just find other ways to enter and in Europe they have plenty of options. Then there’s the problem of what happens when your threat doesn’t disappear, you can’t continue turtling for years watching you economy be destroyed. NZ is struggling with this conundrum now, what do you do?