> able to contain the spread far better than the US

In my opinion a good deal of this was due to the fact that this entire event turned political from the very start. I am not being dramatic when I say that politicians, due to party and ideological loyalty, quite literally, killed people. It's hard to estimate how many. The number certainly has to be between tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

> We were completely blind during the start of the pandemic due almost entirely to failures by the CDC.

No, we were not. The instant Trump closed the door to travel from China I knew we were in for an event that was several standard deviations away from the norm. Ideology aside, a POTUS does not make a move like that in isolation. The data had to be absolutely overwhelming.

As an informed observer I was paying attention. The instant I thought "this is several standard deviations from the norm" I took action. I ordered a supply of food and other necessary items (and yes, masks) to last several months. I covered my immediate and extended family (because nobody listens and everyone who gets their information from mainstream media is living in a fantasy made-up of lies).

If I remember correctly, that was mid January 2020. All of my supplies arrived and were put away before the panic started. We barely had to go to the market for a year.

Regarding politicians killing people. A lot of those videos have been deleted from YouTube and other places. They can be hard to find. Here's a few that are still up. All after Trump's travel ban (again a "tilt" event in terms of SD from the mean).

"There is no reason not to take the subway,..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbPPGrZH3VY

"About 60% of new cases coming out of the NY metropolitan area"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdKLx5MhTpk

"Everything is fine" "Precautions have been taken" "Fear is racially motivated" "Coronavirus is under control in the US"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmllqkU6j2k

This is a big one:

Just like the normal flu
We should relax
We don't think it's going to be as bad as it is in other places
We have been ahead of this from day one
Go about your lives
Go about your business
There has to be prolonged exposure
Just wash your hands
No need to do anything special
We want New Yorkers to go about their daily lives
Ride the subway, ride the bus, go see your neighbors
We have the equipment
It's not like we are dealing with something we haven't dealt with before
We have the ability to address this
We have the capacity to keep this contained
Like the normal flu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEhLOp7UGNM

The local risk is low
Our preparedness is high
Go about your lives
No indication to be using masks
We have measures
We have screening
No indication that going through the subway is a risk factor
No indications to be using masks
False sense of security
The risk is low

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMkBW9ewPz8

These are just some of the links I kept as I chronicled this historical event. A lot of the links I recorded have been deleted.

If you do watch these, pay attention to the dates. Keep in mind that Trump and his team sounded the alarm in early January and the Chinese travel ban went into effect at the end of January.

These people, in very real terms, caused hundreds of thousands of people to become infected. When panic ensued, masses of people left the NY area, carrying the virus everywhere in the country. Yes, these politicians likely killed hundreds of thousands of people. I think that much is without dispute. Nobody talks about it, of course. Because ideology and party are more important than lives. As a classical liberal/libertarian I find this kind of thing to be in a range between revolting and criminal.