New Zealand is to begin a three-day lockdown after a single case is reported.
Source: New York Times
A line outside a supermarket in Auckland, New Zealand, on Tuesday.Credit...Jason Oxenham/New Zealand Herald, via Associated Press
New Zealand will begin a three-day nationwide lockdown after reporting its first coronavirus case in six months, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Tuesday. The snap lockdown, which starts at 11:59 p.m. local time, was set off by the discovery of an infection in Auckland, New Zealand’s most populous city, that is believed to be the country’s first case of the more contagious Delta variant outside its strict quarantine system. Auckland and the nearby Coromandel Peninsula, which the infected person recently visited, will be under a longer, seven-day lockdown.
Under the lockdown rules, New Zealand’s toughest, residents must stay at home and all schools, public facilities and nonessential businesses are closed. Ahead of Ms. Ardern’s announcement, in scenes reminiscent of the earliest days of the pandemic, New Zealanders ransacked supermarkets, leaving toilet paper aisles bare. Roads out of Auckland were packed as people fled the city for holiday homes in other parts of the country.
“I want to assure New Zealand that we have planned for this eventuality and that we will now be putting in place that plan to contain and stamp out Covid-19 once again,” Ms. Ardern said at a news conference. “Going hard and early has worked for us before,” she added. It is not yet known how the individual, who was unvaccinated and does not have any link to the country’s quarantine facilities at the border, contracted the virus.
Ms. Ardern warned that if New Zealand failed to act swiftly, it could end up in the same situation as the Australian state of New South Wales, which is reporting hundreds of new cases each day, more than at any other time during the pandemic. A lockdown now in its eighth week in Sydney, where the Delta-driven outbreak began, was extended to the entire state on Saturday. “We are one of the last countries in the world to have the Delta variant in our community,” Ms. Ardern said. “This has given us the chance to learn from others.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/world/australia/new-zealand-lockdown.html
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Somehow, I don't think this kind of lockdown would necessarily work here, but if there had been any kind of "swift action" at a national level when the pandemic first hit here - instead of suggesting it would "just go away" - we wouldn't have the national emergency - or the horrific death toll - we have now. 
When the pandemic first hit the East Coast. And we sure know what's happened in other states where the governors refuse to mandate any restrictions at all no matter how dire the situation has become. And now that everything's "opened up," no more quarantine in New York and the mask mandate only applies to the unvaccinated, not to mention it's now "the honor system, " just in time for both the more transmissible Delta variant and the advent of "tourist season" in these parts (Lake George), I cringe to imagine the possible outbreaks in a few weeks. I drove up north yesterday through Lake George Village and the streets are packed like any other summer - with very few masks in sight. We could use a few more restrictions. 
when Cuomo was using the analogy of opening a "valve" as a way to reduce mitigation until a hotspot was identified. During low periods, you could open the valve a bit and see where things were, then open it some more. But if there was a sudden spike, then the valve was either turned back a notch or two or closed completely.
But the vehement push to "fully open" RIGHT NOW!!!111!!!1! just torpedoed any cautious approaches. 
At least around here, the businesses are now actually engaging to enforce any type of mitigation strategies that are recommended or mandated, so they can realistically remain in business. It really is to their benefit to not cavalierly dismiss the pandemic.
In Mary Trump's book, she referred to Governor Cuomo as the national leader on the Covid response, as opposed to her uncle who said it would "just go away" (by Easter - and everyone should go to church) or to drink bleach or take malaria medicine.
And that's the thing! Just in time for the Delta variant sweeping the country, everything's suddenly open with a vengeance, and the tourists are sure back. And they came from all over. I notice the license plates and I've seen Florida (quite a few!), South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Utah(!) - as well as the more common Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Last summer everything was closed and anyone from out-of-state had to quarantine - and anytime you'd go to the doctor or dentist, the first think they'd ask is if you'd left the state.
As for businesses, masks were required everywhere, and it was enforced. These days, the only masks I see are me and a few employees. No more one-way aisles in stores and a lot of them have gotten rid of the six-foot distancing lines at checkouts. As far as anyone here's concerned, Covid was over as of July.
And agree that this year is going to be a nightmare, although perhaps in a mutated sense because despite all the unvaccinated, I would say that at least about 1/2 of the U.S. is fully vaccinated. And even with the breakthroughs, the impact won't be as severe. However the unvaccinated states are suffering as bad as NY did a year ago - basically being in the same situation of no vaccine. But it's perhaps worse there because of how fast this variant spreads and reproduced compared to the original Wuhan and European variants. To the point where I have been reading the stories of people being hospitalized literally within a couple days of exposure versus maybe able to go about a week or two before finally needing to be hospitalized.
I had to go out to the post office, pharmacy, and supermarket yesterday morning (and yes the 1-way aisles have disappeared here now too) and I was double-masked. Fortunately (since that hour of the day is mostly retirees and seniors) people I encountered were all masked-up (including the supermarket checkers and stockers, who were the first to whip off the masks back in May and have thankfully gone back to wearing them again).
It's gonna be a bad fall with the schools.
and runs somewhere between the population of Los Angeles (city) and Cook County, IL (home to Chicago), and is this size geographically, compared to the U.S. -
And even then, the population is concentrated along the coastal areas -
https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/500x716/
(edit to add updated pop. density from here - https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2020/08/10/how-geography-helped-new-zealand-beat-coronavirus/?sh=554fca84215b and here - https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/subnational-population-estimates-at-30-june-2018-provisional)
So the U.S. has and can do it on their scale. But doing it nationwide here is what is the impossibility, absent a sci-fi fantasy military-imposed enforcement. And with the 2nd Amendment in full force, it ain't happening.
and being a couple islands, they can isolate themselves a little easier, like Australia, Japan, and the UK (although the latter two were in for a rude awakening once travel on and off their islands commenced).
Just this past February, they had the same types of protestors that we have had, when the last lockdown had been implemented - https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-anti-lockdown-protesters-gather-outside-pms-auckland-office/SNINQCXD7L3WKH6VMJRA4YQASA/
And almost a year ago, they went hogwild - https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/425935/police-right-to-not-stop-anti-lockdown-protesters-science-denial-expert
It's really no difference except on a smaller scale. 
This is why the virus is still going strong. You will never have 100% "compliant" ("OBEY" ) people anywhere around the world.
I take it you have not worked for the federal government before?
Tell me how are you going to track who is getting "paid"? You seem to envision some government employee standing in the street, 1930s-style, with a bag of cash handing it out to people in line.
You have to have some "system" in place to distribute money and THAT costs money to create. AND there have to be checks and validation criteria in place to reduce the incidences of people who will "game" the policy, and thus the system. Look what happened with the PPA and the large businesses who took advantage to the detriment of the small and micro-businesses who faced the biggest impacts.
This was also part of the problem with getting the various stimulus checks out quickly and is currently one of the biggest hurdles to getting billions and billions of dollars designated for landlords and tenants, out to them to take care of rent, and reduce the evictions.
I know there is a lot of fantastical thinking about the logistics of distribution and how magical "systems" just suddenly appear out of thin air to "fix" a problem. But what you propose is ripe for the taking by the very 1% who will always take advantage of poorly-implemented policies and/or systems that are rushed or reduced in scope due to cost factors.
I'm sorry but as a retired fed after 30+ years of federal service, I know quite a bit more than you think.
I suggest you come out of the clouds of silliness like "pay(ing) people $10 and $20 to sit home", along with the government is "lazy", and the other nonsense you attempted, and quit while you can before making a bigger fool of yourself. 
Masks kill jobs 
Thank you for the updates!!!! 
(emphasis mine)
We have a number of cops, firefighters, EMS, and other medical/health personnel who have refused to be vaccinated - some claiming that it was because the vaccines are not "fully approved" (although I doubt in a few weeks when they are "fully approved", that it will make a difference to them), and others refuse because they are like the other anti-vax loons.
My city put in a vaccine mandate (with the usual exemptions) for all city employees - and that includes the police, fire, EMTs, streets department (trash/recycling collectors, etc).
The whole business model of products like TP or the disinfecting wipes, etc., were developed to use "just in time" manufacturing so you don't have warehouses full of product that isn't moving but require a cost to store. They track wholesale/retail orders and develop estimated amounts that are expected to be sent out weekly/monthly/quarterly so they can adjust how much is manufactured.
All you need is one or two in your neighborhood/locale near your regular supermarket/store to start hoarding, and then when you or someone else goes to the store to buy some (because maybe you have a roll left), and find the shelves are bare, you now find yourself SOL, but roll with it. But then a few days or a week later when you really really need a pack and you check the store again and find the shelf still empty, you eventually develop the outlook that you either may be forced to use a substitute (like facial tissues, which can clog up the waste drains pretty efficiently) and/or the next time you find some, you "stock up" like others.
As a note, women, thanks to that good old physiology, have to use more than men.