We don’t have to guess or speculate because there are actual examples of countries that did handle it much better
In no particular order: New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Germany, Canada.
Culturally and governmentally different countries with varying degrees of success (some stunningly successful), but the trait they all share is they got it more right than we did.
The U.S. is one of the last in the world on many metrics of coronavirus performance (total infections, new infections, total deaths, new deaths etc. etc.).
Our failures have already filled multiple investigative articles, could fill books (and will), and won’t be fully tallied for a long time.
The bottom line is it starts with having leadership that recognizes reality and science, and views Covid as an actual real thing rather than another political obstacle to overcome.