Country - South Korea
State - Newsom
Full disclosure: I didn't know enough details of either South Korea or California's response, so I did some quick research. This is was I found. (Cue SVU's "dun-dun")
Let's start with South Korea. It's a country roughly the size of Pennsylvania, surrounded by water on 3 sides, and a closed, militarized border with North Korea on the fourth. The entire country has 3 international airports. It has a national government with complete control over the entire country, including any provincial or local governments. There is a zero-tolerance policy for violating the 2 week self-isolation rule, with punishments of up to 1 year in prison, fines of 10 million won, and deportation for foreign passport holders. In the beginning, South Korea controlled the potential spread of COVID-19 by using high-tech resources like tracking the use of credit cards and checking CCTV footage of confirmed patients. It is common for offices, hotels, and other large buildings to use thermal image cameras in order to identify people with fevers. Oh, and their president initially ignored the Korean Medical Association's request to ban travelers, first from Hubei Province, and then from all of China.
Conclusion: They definitely handled this better than most, but not without their follies. They are also playing by a very different set of rules. I don't know much about you, but I know enough to safely assume you're not ok with the government checking out the spending habits of the goy who turns on your faucet. There's not much to learn here that can be applied to the USA, regardless of who is in office.
California issued a state of emergency on March 4th. On March 12th, Newsom banned gatherings of more than 250 people, and said health experts advised that smaller gathering could be held if organizers implemented social distancing of 6 feet (sounds super realistic). On March 19th, Newsom issued a stay-at-home order, but said that he doesn’t believe that law enforcement actions are required to convince Californians to follow the order. “People will self-regulate their behavior, they’ll begin to adjust and adapt,” he said. “We will have social pressure that will encourage people to do the right thing.” "Noted" law professor Noah Feldman (of impeachment inquiry fame) lambasted Newsom's order in an opinion piece for Bloomberg, saying, "The order, as it stands, is incoherent at best and outrageous at worst." It's enforcement has been widely panned by the media, as beaches, parks, and other public areas have been saturated with high volumes of people. As of April 2nd, California has a backlog of 64% of tests pending, with people waiting up to 12 days for results. They currently have as many cases as Canada and Austria, with slightly higher death rates (2.2% vs 1.4-1.5%). (If I was media, I would have written that as "death rates 40-55% higher!") It should be noted that Governor Newsom twice praised President Trump for his handling of the virus; once with regards to the cruise ships, and another regarding emergency funds. Newsom said, “He said everything that I could have hoped for. Every single thing he said they followed through on.”
Conclusion: I'm not sure what you see here...
My point stands.
ETA: Newsom said yesterday that he sees the pandemic as an opportunity to reshape government to shift towards a new, progressive agenda. Yep, a real role model.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-newsom-coronavirus-opportunity-progressive-agenda