The only way US cases can be like China is if US implements the national lockdown and quarantine China did. And China was literally enforcing stay at home, except 1 family member can leave every 3 days to buy food. Drones flew overhead everywhere to enforce it, if you were outside your house on a day you weren't designated to buy food you were subject to arrest. Travel between cities was entirely banned, everything was closed except supermarkets and pharmacies.
I don't think anyone here understands what China did. Thinking we can have the same curve as China is absolutely foolish without knowing what China did to get there.
Yes, China has a government able to accomplish a very strong response. People in the West see this as oppression.
South Korea is like a combination of the centralized Chinese system and the democratic Western system. For example, a single infected woman did not want to be tested. She refused twice, and then circulated in public places, and at her church in Daegu. She was the 'superspreader' who got the disease started. It took a real lockdown in Daegu to halt the rise. If China's response is too strong, permitting someone to refuse testing, and ultimately cause the deaths of hundreds is far too weak.
But my son, who lives there, told me that Korea was fully prepared after their experience with SARS and MERS. After the outbreak in Daegu, they acted decisively and tested over 250,000 early on. They enforced quarantine and used technology, phone apps, to trace cases and halt the spread. China used this method too.
You could follow some Western YouTubers in China, as I have for the past month. You'll see that the measures you detail in China have been much less draconian than what people in the West believe. The Chinese people overwhelmingly support the government's severe response. Many Westerners who live there do too.
These YouTubers were three Canadians and one American. They have been there for 6 - 10 years. They say that attitudes in the West are too negative about China, and not accurate.
If there is a dangerous health threat that can be curtailed in its early stages, as in Korea and China, that will save many lives and result in much less damage to the economy than a later, weaker response.
Ideology is important in the normal life of citizens. However there are exceptions, like war and health threats, where very strong measures are beneficial.
