thanks for the detailed response. your counterpoints and data are helpful. what i meant by "support structures" is a sort of catch all for governments that are additionally well organized and prepared beyond just having universal healthcare and social welfare. south korea and many of the other east asian countries fall into this. it seems they were simply explicitly prepared, with the correct organizations and policies in place, to handle this due to past experiences in addition with a culture that is collective enough to adapt in real-time.

i suppose south korea is who i primarily had in mind.