When you think what would be possible about lockdowns, I think the biggest difference is between proactive and reactive leadership.
Taiwan has a hardass team of pandemic hunters that check out hotspots around the world on rumour. (Obama got a similar team up after Ebola but it was axed.) A month ago I was reading some of their research and recommendations, which WHO won't allow them to distribute because they're not a UN approved country. They're way ahead of the curve and knew what was really going on in Wuhan months ahead of us.
Just imagine if we had governments who governed. Who proactively got ahead of problems with strategies like that and aggressively implemented measures to keep people safe, even if it wasn't politically popular because people couldn't see the danger that was about to hit.
Probably not possible here. The people who run the country wouldn't allow governments like that.
