We did prepare, and other than some people who just contrarians who refuse to care about anyone else the general population did follow directions for the most part and we were able to avoid our health care systems completely collapsing.

If you didn’t know, there have always been members of society that actively work against any kind of communal inconvenience that is for the greater good. During the (misnamed) Spanish Flu epidemic there were anti-maskers and people who intentionally undermined any public heath initiatives.