South Korea has got over the hump of death count growth NOT because they are preserving the open society, but because they act swiftly. In fact, they acted in late January. When did U.S. acted upon? U.S. squandered 2 months and wait till WHO declared this is a global pandemic.

And they have tested 140k of the cases now and more, how many cases has U.S. tested so far? Not even close.

What about contact tracing? Have you heard South Korea let confirmed cases leave the hospital with fake name + addresses? Or knowing that family members may have infected and still going out to the public? U.S. has. [1][2]

That's the difference you can maintain a society. Lock-up is the second last resort. And then you will have to follow U.K. to let it be.

[1]: https://people.com/human-interest/nj-woman-with-coronavirus-...

[2]: https://www.kcra.com/article/father-of-missouri-coronavirus-...