When one state announced that it was ending intensive contact tracing, a Facebook group popped up so people could do their own. After Australia’s prime minister declared lockdowns a thing of the past, so many residents of its two biggest cities stayed inside anyway as Omicron spiked that it was labeled a “shadow lockdown.” And even as the country’s borders opened for the first time since March 2020, this travel-loving nation mostly stayed put.

“That shift from ‘Covid is the worst thing imaginable’ to suddenly ‘it’s OK, we just open the floodgates now,’ I think that caused a lot of insecurity in people,” said Simon Benson, a doctor in Melbourne who has been inundated with calls from patients unsure what to do after testing positive…

Suddenly, a nation that once imposed lockdowns over handfuls of cases was dealing with half a million active infections. Deaths, while still few by American or British standards, reached record highs. Australians accustomed to following official guidance and taking collective action to blunt a dangerous virus felt whiplash. And as case numbers started to fall, anxiety bled into resignation.

The country went from “lockdowns when you can’t even have another person visit your house to full pubs, clubs, ‘don’t worry about it,’” said Peter Collignon, a physician and professor of microbiology at the Australian National University.