A great question that we as citizens should demand an answer for. The way I see it the USA* had a very significant buffer window from when the virus started to when it reached the West Coast. In that window we really didn't do anything. So when the outbreak happened it WA it was strange and frankly alarming that we could not preform tests. Testing is the key to containment. S. Korea tested extensively and developed an app to track the inflicted.
Still today we are unable to test in the numbers necessary. We also are extremely short on basic medical supplies, another thing that is inexplicable to me. Why are we incapable of manufacturing at War Scale. You would think a bio-attack would have a very militaristic interest, meaning military stockpiles or factory mandates to switch production over to medical supplies.
Finally the fact that we are enervating our economy means we didn't have a proactive organized response. Me staying home is not a well thought out plan, it is an act of desperation. To be fair at this point probably a needed one, but then again me might be past the point of sheltering in place working. My 2 cents.
* the WHOLE damn USA, not any one political leader, not any one ranking official of the Healthcare system, not any one state.