With no leadership, sure.

But we could have easily closed the borders. And forced quarantine for anyone entering for ACTUAL required travel. Continuing that for months after the 4 week real lock down.

At that point responding quickly and harshly to any cases that came in would have been extremely easy. Five may pop here, 25 there, 12 there. Lock them down hardcore with treatment.

And then we'd be here. 9 months later with almost meaningless levels of cases totals with vaccines on the horizon. With more money for each person, with fewer jobs lost and businesses closed, and the ability to use resources as needed instead of stretched thinner and thinner by the day.

The key was always to actually punish people who didn't follow the rules. Our society is entirely based on punishment avoidance (yes I think that's stupid). We can't just live our entire lives based on that and then when shit hits the fan think people will behave with no consequences.