Not having lived in the US for a while, I can't judge the situation there. But -- to keep with your metaphor -- lowering the temperature in patient zero sure seems to have reduced the chance of further outbreaks across the pond. Before the deplatforming, Trump was omnipresent in the media here and as a result on a pretty good trajectory to get a following in the fringes of Europe. The lack of media attention has been cathartic, at least as far as I can tell (small university town, so probably not the best place to judge that but still).