At one extreme is the laissez-faire approach taken by the U.S. government. Citing concerns about the economic impact and curtailing individual freedom, President Trump let the virus rip through the country. As a result, over a million people in the U.S. died—0.31 percent of the total population.[73]
Given the structure of the US political system, the federal government was mostly handicapped - they could give out mandates, but the mandates were given to states and local municipalities to enforce. Quarantine was largely regulated by local municipalities and the states themselves. The deaths experienced during the Pandemic, while sad, were not that devasating - only 0.31 (less than 1 percent) or people died. Compared to the deaths seen during the Spanish Influenza and the Black Death, COVID-19 was a blip.
