Apologies for the length of this comment. There is a lot to unpack here.

New Zealand has fewer measures right now because of its management. The plan is to safely interact with other countries, and to have no measures internally - as is the case for me right now. (Auckland's measures will lift on October 5).

You appear to have misinterpreted the nonsense I am referring to when it comes to measures. The nonsense is talk about economies being "devastated", "ruined", "wrecked" etc. That has not been the case in New Zealand. Such notions are nonsense-if they cause a downturn, give the numbers!

Smart questioning compares economic performance of countries where measures are put in place, their severity and their impact.

This becomes clearer by way of comparing the IMF GNP forecast for 2020:

Sweden (fewer measures throughout) -6.8%.

USA (Half measures, applied late) -8.0.

New Zealand (Severe measures, then an open economy when community transmission is zero.) -7.2%. If the option is to have fewer measures and your economy retracts 6.8%.

Regarding knowing being virus free. You appear to underestimate how advanced tracking has become. It is assisted in New Zealand because the outbreaks have been contained-achieved by putting everyone in isolation for a few weeks, then intensively contact tracking. The exact relationship is established for about half the cases, through use of genome testing. It isn't perfect, however an educated guess can be made when tests keep showing no virus.

In my view, places like Hawaii and the Isle of Wight it is entirely possible. I haven't seen anything that would prevent them from following NZ's example.

Let me finish my article (hopefully today), and then give me a robust critique based on your world-view. Even better, write an article that debunks the elimination of community transmission, if you have the time and inclination. Comments are limiting.