I might just add two dimensions to this discussion as well.
Canada, the United States, and other countries, such as Russia, are federalist countries. How do you deal with a pandemic in a country that divides its powers and its influence among various jurisdictions?
Often federalism has strengths, because you can have local innovation and local experimentation, but you also need, as you said, consistent national guidance and a consistent national response, because if there is a fire in one place, it will spread to other places, so you do need that federal leadership.
The other thing we're seeing in Canada, the United States, Brazil and many other places is a political and cultural divide. A virus should make us all think that it doesn't matter what political party we are or what ideology we have, whether we're rural or urban, or what our culture is. We all need to respect that virus in the same way, but somehow this has become a political cultural symbol. It's very unhelpful when we start to do that.