Imagine, for a moment, the following alternate history:
It is January, and the Wuhan coronavirus starts being taken seriously by WHO, and Taiwan and a couple other East Asian countries.
Trump declares a real travel ban on China. He then expands it as countries like Italy start seeing hotspots, and declares it a major threat to the United States.
He blasts it as the ChinaVirus*, and says that America must mobilize to defeat it, and through February into March he publicly insists on locking things down as much as possible, wearing masks, social distancing, saying doing so is as patriotic as war bonds and rationing in WW2. He recommends to Congress some significant sustained multitrillion spending which will continue until infection rates go below a certain level. He puts the CDC on a "war footing" and redirects Wall money to it, and mobilizes the National Guard for any and all support needed**. He tells everyone that we need to squash the pandemic before school opens so that kids can go to school again in the fall, and the economy can then resume (in October, in time to support his re-election).
How many deaths do you think we'd have in the US to this point?
* - okay that part is not alternate history.
** - not alternate history, except that he largely rescinds NG mobilization after 89 days preventing many Guard troops from qualifying for certain types of pay.