I would not say that authoritarian regimes necessary have advantages, Taiwan and Japan seems to handle this crisis much better than Iran for example.

Culture does play a big role into that indeed though, if you can manage to close off events & cities and having your citizens obey all the health precautions, it has a big impact on how it spread.

My local Costco is already telling people they can only buy 2 waters, paper towels, and disinfecting wipes. No one is rioting.

It's a business, they're free to do whatever they want. I'm not sure how well people would react if the government tells them they're not allowed to leave the city anymore. In Italy, apart from riots in prisons, the population accepts that pretty well, I'm not sure it'd be the same in the US.

Maybe Costco is an authoritarian regime!

They already made you carry identity cards. "Show us your papers!"

As almost all business, it is.

* rampant thoughtless individualism has a price.