Nations did not have to rely on 20:20 and they did have sets of rules to go by. The US had an excellent National Strategy for Pandemic Response. In fact, it was considered one of the world's best.
It was/is titled, "Playbook for Early Response to High Consequence Disease, Threats and Biological Incidents"
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6819268/Pandemic-Playbook.pdf
America had the world's best pandemic response plan. Why did it fail?
But, at a critical time, the US leadership chose not to follow its own playbook. People, including political leaders, could not sort science from fantasy, expert from conspiracy.
Nigeria had a Pandemic Response and enacted it immediately. Although their population is huge, they have had 10 deaths per million. The US has had 1700 deaths per million.
I feel so frustrated and sad for those who died so needlessly. It is a great grief.