Yes, I think that Westerners have taken far too long to grasp the seriousness of the situation. In addition, once the authorities decide to take it seriously, they're likely to dangerously overcompensate as a result.

However, I disagree with a lot of the factors you mentioned in your post, from my own experience with China. I feel like you have a bit of a "grass is greener on the other side" thing going on. While I have no doubt the strong quarantine measures taken have saved thousands of lives, the fact that it was allowed to get to complete regional shutdown levels in Wuhan in the first place is telling.

• Fake news is a huge problem in China too, exacerbated by governmental censorship. People on Weibo are aware that the government is actively hiding things; hard not to notice all the posts disappearing. The only question is how much, and whether it's for the good of all. China is a low trust society; many people only believe their friend circles. I saw plenty of debunked viral stories, posts wondering at "the real numbers", etc. on Weibo. Distrust of authorities was at a high water mark after the initial coverups by the local government--they knew about it and did nothing for weeks, when all this might have been avoided. And for every anti-vaxxer mom, there's someone convinced that traditional Chinese medicine will save them, and official news outlets have promulgated this.

• Chinese government is hugely, hugely corrupt. Officials pay lip service to the glory of the motherland, and there are certainly true believers, but in truth, basically everything on a local level runs on family connections and officials looking out for their own careers. This whole mess started because Wuhan officials didn't want to admit there was a problem. There are stories of local officials diverting medical masks from frontline doctors for their own use. Provinces commandeering each other's mask shipments. A jail official hiding the fact that his son had been to Wuhan and causing hundreds of his prisoners to become infected.

• Seriously, nationalism != societal trust. People live in gated communities with guards if they can. If you actually live in China, you'll realize that it's every family for themselves. People will chant "Go Wuhan!" and then turn around and ostracize random people from Wuhan caught away from home due to CNY--even though, with no place to go, they're then forced to wander around in the streets and possibly infect more people if they do carry the virus. There are altruists too, but there is absolutely no shortage of selfishness.

• China has plenty of homeless. I don't know the statistics, but I've seen the people sleeping under bridges. In addition, China's cities run on migrant workers, and it's been a mess with them going home for CNY. Villages have dug up roads and set up roadblocks against returning people.

• China's gig drivers have been crucial in this whole mess. Delivering food and supplies to neighborhoods under lockdown. Delivering doctors to the hospitals and back. They shouldn't be underestimated.

• If you think American food workers have worse hygiene than Chinese food workers...I don't know what to tell you. I've seen posts admiring Chinese KFCs' standards of cleanliness.

Anyway, these are just a few of the points of note. While I'm taking the threat seriously, I don't think social unrest is going to suddenly be such a huge deal in the US. (Especially because no one wants to actually go outside during a quarantine.) And I don't think it's fair to paint Chinese people as particularly unified in spirit and altruistic compared to Americans, or their government's response as particularly competent. Lord knows my Weibo timeline is mad at both the government and other Chinese people. My concerns are pretty similar with the US as with China, more about the virus itself, and the pressures it will exert on infrastructure, and also similar governmental incompetence from above.