It is also enlightening to consider the success of various strategies too. This will take years to piece together but one comparison from my corner of the globe

It is also enlightening to consider the success of various strategies too. This will take years to piece together but one comparison from my corner of the globe is the contact tracing in New South Wales and Victoria. In NSW contact tracing successfully prevented a large second wave while in Victoria it did not, and they were forced into a strict lockdown which eventually worked. Remarkably, both states become free of COVID around the same time. There isn't much difference in socioeconomic status or population density between NSW and Victoria so the difference likely lies with the effectiveness of the contact tracing or just good/bad luck.