I’m sure we have many bureaucrats who wouldn’t want the public to ‘panic’ and ‘cause a recession’.
Our methods of doing this would be different than in China...but not sure our bureaucrats would behave any differently.
Plus, from personal experience, we have our share of ‘doomers’ who think there are too many people on the planet and we need a good epidemic to help with the ‘climate crisis’.
YMMV, as always.
Yup.
During the 1900 plague outbreak in San Fransisco, TPTB never did impose a quarantine, plague eventually spread to the local ground squirrels, and from there to the entire western US.
And when the same city experienced a "gay plague", the city refused to shut down the bath houses.