I heard a great phrase awhile ago: "Cargo Cult Lockdown." Originally the guy who mentioned it was referring to how countries were imitating China's lockdown, but would fail to understand the details, methods, and follow-up needed to allow for successful subsequent opening-up.

(If you don't know what "cargo cult" refers to, here is a primer from Feynman's speech where he explains it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult_science#Feynman's_speech )

But now I see it over and over as people point to this or that country (eg Japan, Sweden, SG, HK, Germany) as their example for whatever path forward their politically-aligned sphere seems to currently prefer.

They ignore the MANY specific details (whether cultural, logistical, accidental, institutional etc) that combine to yield the positive outcome they want to claim we would have if we just did Big Simple Thing that Country X is doing.

People in Country X act differently; they habitually wear masks, they listen to doctors, they don't shake hands, they have free hospitals, they have a lot of technology, or (for any/all of the above) they DON'T. All those factors add up.

America is weird and it's not going to be that simple. Hell, we probably can't even apply the same solution across different states. This is a time for first-principles thinking and not casting about for simple solutions that align with the path that your political crowd favors.

If something appears to support what you WANT to believe, you should probably be extra suspicious of it and actively search out rebuttals before you take it in. This virus has continually surprised us all and will continue to do so.