And if we hadn't taken strict measures nationally, the carnage in the U.S. outside of the I-95 corridor & parts of the West Coast would've been horrific in the first three months

At the risk of stating the obvious, different policies would have resulted in different patterns of spread and local prevalence. Collins might be right: people in less afflicted areas initially might have taken it more seriously, but that's because they likely would've been hit much harder earlier.