I really appreciate your explanations! I'm currently living in Melbourne, Australia, and we were in lockdown from March to October. From the end of July to October (over 100 days) Melbourne's restrictions were the strictest in the world and it was extremely difficult, but we squashed community transmission.

Everything is open and we feel safe to go about our lives. We're playing team sports, going to bars, eating out, seeing LIVE MUSIC (!), and hosting the Australian Open, but Australia is a very risk-averse nation and the government is waiting to see how the vaccine rolls out (least that's what they're saying).

I'm wondering if the new variants will compel the government to hold off a bit longer in hopes of a vaccine development for the new variant.