That’s exactly what Hong Kong did vs. Italy... they were proactive, before they even had 100 cases they were closing borders, schools,etc. as a result, they have had a very mild peak, with economy and healthcare intact whereas Italy, well, you know...
Yep. We aren’t going to be like Hong Kong. With our spirit of independence and individual freedom, we were never going to be Hong Kong. We probably won’t be South Korea either. But I think we will be smart enough to avoid becoming Italy or Iran, and avoid shutting down large portions of our country and economy.
You really need to normalize those data points to make a meaningful comparison.
What is the average age of people in Italy? In HK?
Political considerations (Italy is in EU - can they just unilaterally close their borders?)
State of health care system prior to COVID-19? There's some anecdotal evidence that Italy's system in the affected areas was already under stress.
Etc.