We still haven't really closed travel: even the source of the biggest current outbreak, NYC, still has airports operating! And not only for medical flights... y

We still haven't really closed travel: even the source of the biggest current outbreak, NYC, still has airports operating! And not only for medical flights... you can just buy yourself a plane ticket from NYC to Miami if you want to visit. The first significant US outbreak was in Washington state in February, and there were no real travel-restriction measures to/from the Seattle area back then either, which is part of how it spread across the country. It probably wouldn't be possible to do a China-style quarantine of an entire region, like the way they completely locked down travel to/from Hubei, but we didn't do anything even 25% of the way there... SeaTac kept operating for weeks as if there was no issue, with large volumes of passengers exiting the source of the then-biggest outbreak. We were also quite late on shutting down businesses, although some places later than others. Fairly high-ranking officials (the Oklahoma governor, the NYC mayor, etc.) were openly encouraging people to go out to big events as late as mid-March, weeks after there was evidence of community spread.