Currently, there are 2, apparently new, according to this:
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/...
This is about as close to "eliminated" as you can get; the new cases are all from incoming international travel.
This directly refutes the OP's statement that lockdowns "won't stop the virus."
Early on when New York was surging and Trump suggested limiting inter-state travel Cuomo suggested that would be akin to a federal declaration of war. [1]
It can be true that strategies that might work for New Zealand could never possibly work for the continental US.
Hawaii has a similar situation, got new case count down to zero for a few days, but are dealing with a few cases per day recently.
[1] - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/28/donald-trump...
We also basically shut down our borders, which I don't think is that feasible for a lot of other countries.