Many Western, wealthy, liberal democracies had less than impressive responses to COVID-19, from the United States to the United Kingdom, and from Italy to Germany. Furthermore, a country being a liberal democracy (a democracy committed to protecting individual liberties and the rule of law) was significantly associated with COVID-19 mortality for part of the pandemic. One explanation for many Western democracies’ lackluster COVID-19 responses is that they lacked prior experience with diseases like SARS or MERS to induce them to prepare for another public health crisis. Additionally, many liberal democracies have a highly individualistic citizenry (like the United States) that might be less trusting of government policies, even in an emergency.