It's interesting to read about the reactions and actions around Covid-19 in that part of the world. Here in Germany we work with quarantine at home for infected, but not seriously ill, people and suspected cases. Though perhaps that might not be enough to damn the rise of infected people - a lot of people were skiing in Northern Italy...
We have some drive-through testing centers, and they made changes in how to get a sick certificate: if you have light flu-like symptoms it's enough to phone your doctor and you have paid sick leave up to seven days.
Let's all hope for the best!
I advocate quarantine at home whenever possible too. But there are some circumstances where it's impractical because of the living situation (family or roommates not yet exposed) or the home itself can't be secured from 'leaking' airborne particles for whatever reason.
But to be honest, I think the biggest impact for most people will be economic in nature. All the potential secondary economic ripple effects are poorly understood, and not enough people have enough saved to cover hospital stay expenses or enough to ride out an extended job loss or absence. People need to be saving money instead of panic-buying toilet paper or (groan) bottled water.
The toilet paper thing is especially crazy because neither paper towels nor paper tissues are bought - though here in Germany the toilet-paper and pasta are sold out more in the urban centers. I'm living in a small town and there's not a lot of panic buying.
Having free healthcare and indefinite paid sick leave I never thought about how the economic system influences such an epidemic. Anyone infected going to work instead of staying at home fastens the spread of the virus.
Along with the absurd high price of healthcare, the number of employees in the US who don't have any coverage for long-term sick leave is going to be something that really hurts the US effort to slow the spread. I just listened to a Macro Voices podcast where the guest, Juliette Declercq, made a side comment to the effect that during this pandemic one might be better off being treated in Germany than the UK or the US. If so, that sounds like that's a bit of good news for you...