Why would that not be possible in America? When the leader of the country during the pandemic was explicitly antimask? You can’t rewrite history with “logic.”
The U.S. is a democracy, not a dictatorship. The president can only do so much. If there's a problem with the politicians, they need to be replaced. If there's a problem with the system, that needs to be fixed. Just saying "it's not possible in America" is not constructive or useful.
I would examine the texas blackout as an example of why such problem persists in the US. There's no incentive, during good times, to prepare a system to help during black swan events. When the black swan event occur, the costs are borne by those who suffer it. After the closure of the event, life goes back to "normal" - and the cycle would repeat.