Australia hasn't felt so isolated from the rest of the world since the jet airliner was invented 70 years ago. But at least we have one thing in our favour: we're right next door to paradise. And while Australia has been congratulating itself for its management of COVID-19, rightly so to a large degree, island nations in the South Pacific have even better pandemic records.
Some neighbouring nations, such as the Cook Islands and Niue, have recorded zero COVID-19 cases while like Samoa, Vanuatu and the Solomons have recorded barely a handful, all in quarantine. Aside from this collective success, they all share in common an enormous dependence on tourism from big brothers Australia and New Zealand.