The US National Football League has decided that if a team can't play due to players sick with Covid-19, that team forfeits the game.

Australian officials reviled anti-lockdown protesters in Sydney for "filthy, risky behavior", as well as fining them.

I disagree with the protesters' position; I'm convinced that Sydney needs a more complete shutdown in order to suppress the outbreak faster. ("Shutdown" is not quite the same thing as "lockdown".) However, their right to protest is another matter. Prohibiting protest is repression. The right to protest is sacred to democracy.

There are clearly things that protesters could do which risk spreading Covid-19 — for instance, failing to keep their distance from each other and everyone else. Protesters must obey rules like that, to keep the protest safe for each other and everyone else.

However, the article does not report that most of these protesters did things that endangered anyone. What officials call "filthy" appears to be simply a matter of breaking a rule about travelling more than 5km away from home.

It is not more dangerous to travel 6km than 4km. The rule is clearly meant as a rough approximation to reduce the overall level of travel and social intercourse.

That might be a helpful measure in general, but they should make an exception for a protest now and then.

Factory farms pollute rivers, lakes and oceans, drive global heating, and make so much meat that people in many countries make themselves sick. Some senators support a bill to eliminate factory farms in the US, over a period of two decades.

Australian officials reviled anti-lockdown protesters in Sydney for "filthy, risky behavior", as well as fining them.

I disagree with the protesters' position; I'm convinced that Sydney needs a more complete shutdown in order to suppress the outbreak faster. ("Shutdown" is not quite the same thing as "lockdown.) However, their right to protest is another matter. Prohibiting protest is repression. The right to protest is sacred to democracy.

There are clearly things that protesters could do which risk spreading Covid-19 — for instance, failing to keep their distance from each other and everyone else. Protesters must obey rules like that, to keep the protest safe for each other and everyone else.

However, the article does not report that most of these protesters did things that endangered anyone. What officials call "filthy" appears to be simply a matter of breaking a rule about travelling more than 5km away from home.

It is not more dangerous to travel 6km than 4km. The rule is clearly meant as a rough approximation to reduce the overall level of travel and social intercourse.

That might be a helpful measure in general, but they should make an exception for a protest now and then.

Over 30,000 Australians can't go home. They may have to wait years, and may be ruined by debt, including the high cost of the "subsidized" flights.

I disagree with the writer on one point. Given the world-wide shortage of vaccine, I think it was proper of Australia to rest behind its wall of quarantine and suffer occasional shutdowns to keep people safe, making vaccination unnecessary. If Delta makes that cease to be effective, so that Australia needs to compete for the scarce vaccines, it will be an unfortunate setback.

But that is a separate issue. Australia should spend more on quarantine facilities so that it can bring its people home sooner.