mdd1: People have been dying in vastly greater numbers for millenia (as we reckon time). And they die of a great many things, many of which could be avoided (e.g. if we banned cars, tens of thousands of lives would be saved). Closing down the economy and stripping millions of people of their parnassah and property was not an appropriate response to what is basically a cold (a.k.a. coronavirus) that acts like flu.
Also note the Republicans (or at least Trump) tried to close the border to Chinese travellers but the Democrats screamed loudly and said it was racist. Indeed, Trump is distinguished, much to the objections of the Republican business community, by his opposition to open borders.