Australia's chosen the path of most resistance, i.e. heavy lockdowns at levels which are low compared to those of most other countries. I live in the worst affected state, Victoria, which is currently doing an inquiry on the quarantine failures which caused our second wave and a huge increase in deaths.
So far we have learned that our public health planning and staffing is/was almost nonexistent, compared with the other states. Even during the first (almost entirely non-fatal) wave our hospital capacity almost collapsed. The fatalities were mostly health care workers. It was this which appears to have prompted our authorities' heavy lockdown approach, rather than anything more sinister.
-Removed-This is like complaining about vaccines because the diseases they prevent are barely around. You're mocking the very measures that reduced the UK's high infection and death rate.
You say the stats from the U.K. were flawed; they had the second highest death rates out of 44 European countries. So whatever the "actual" figures are, they're still going to be pretty high.
In the meantime, stay educated. Look at places like Italy who relaxed their measures only to have a second wave hit. Look at the U.S., where the conservative southern states who had rather low cases of the virus suddenly blew up because they think just like you. The examples of what your attitude leads to are all around.
Listen to scientists. Let people who want to take precautions be. You and the U.K. will be all the better for it.
The main reason that new cases are used for planning reasons is the long lead time between infection and hospitalisation in many cases, the standard 14 days is an average only. Base your decisions only on hospitalisations and the health system will be swamped. Do we want hospital tents and refrigerated corpse trucks?
-Removed-FHI - The Swedish Health Institution - Anders Tegnell in cooperation with many other experts chose a strategy different from our neighbouring countries and many other nations. We were not sure how it would work out but were recommended to follow restrictions, advice and responsibility. Despite a high death rate at the early stages, Tegnell maintains the strategy is still the right one - the tragic numbers of corona deaths were mainly in our care homes for old people which were not prepared for the virus invasion caused by innocent visitors/relatives and staff. That seems to be much better now and we hope so, because on October 1, care homes will open for visitors again.
As I myself am a senior citizen, I try to follow the advice of keeping a healthy distance, so do my friends and neighbours - no visitors in our homes e.g.
We can only hope that the strategy is the right one as this will be going on for a long time - it is not going away. This is how I think.