Social distancing works. The earlier the better, California and Washington data show.

New Zealand went 100 days without a single new case of Covid-19 after implementing strict restrictions which included "no takeaways, no beaches, and no driving outside of your neighborhood." Because of the government's quick action, the county remained in lockdown for only seven weeks. The government is now keeping focus on elimination rather than eradication as it is expected that the virus could resurface.

New Zealand has been able to nearly eradicate Covid-19 due to rapid intervention strategies taken by the government that were predicated on quickly identifying clusters of cases and implementing rigorous contact tracing. Although the country went 101 days without a single case reported, a few cases have once again surfaced. However, because residents had already been using a contact tracing smartphone app and were "encouraged to add masks to their emergency kits," many were prepared for the onset of any new cases.

When coronavirus first appeared in the United States, Seattle emerged as an epicenter, but just a few months later, the city and state have largely reduced the overall caseload. Local officials say that a unified approach, consisting of a combination of measured governmental action and strategic conversations between leaders and tech giants, was the key to slowing the spread while also gaining buy-in from state residents.

While most countries around the world are trying to implement strategies to contain the coronavirus outbreak, New Zealand set out to eradicate the virus. Rapid government-enacted intervention strategies and a reliance on science coupled with compliance from community members has resulted in the countrywide caseload remaining significantly low and has allowed for parts of the region to slowly reopen.

Germany has emerged during the coronavirus pandemic as a country that has successfully been able to avoid the worst-case scenario, unlike many other countries still battling the virus. Although the country hasn't escaped unscathed, the country's accessible and reliable health care system and a public trust in government officials both helped form the country's successful response to the outbreak.

Several Asian nations have successfully slowed the spread of coronavirus and may now offer lessons for the U.S. and Europe. Although each took its own approach, commonalities included governmental oversight, early intervention in public policies and business, widespread testing, and information management.

Strict and early knockdowns and consistent public health messaging have helped Australia effectively eliminate Covid-19. Now, the country and its residents have largely returned to business as usual, despite many citizens still waiting to receive the Covid vaccine.

San Francisco's "hammer and dance" approach to handling the coronavirus pandemic has helped the densely populated urban city begin to reopen ahead of much of the rest of California. Although the pandemic has undoubtedly taken a toll on the city's local economy, the strict and aggressive actions by the local government have resulted in the risk of infection now being considered as minimal.

When South Africa's government implemented measures to protect its citizens from the spread of COVID-19, it also drastically reduced its flu cases down to 1 single case for its winter season as a side effect. Stringent mask requirements and complete school closures, along with a sharp increase in people getting flu vaccines, contributed to South Africa's record-low flu season, despite being one of the countries with the highest recorded cases of coronavirus.

Italy, once a major hotspot for Covid-19 cases, has seen a significant decrease in the spread of the coronavirus after implementing strict government regulations including mandatory travel restrictions and isolation protocols. The success of the measures has been evident as the country begins to reopen – lifting restrictions in two-week increments to account for the "virus’s incubation period" – with no sign of the virus still spreading and hospitals remaining largely empty of critical cases.