New Zealand beats the pandemic

Just for the record, New Zealand is beginning to reopen its economy. It now has "no widespread undetected community transmission", according the Jacinda Ardern, the country's PM. New Zealand has had 19 deaths from covid-19, a country with a population of 4.88 million.  Had the US kept the infection under control same degree, we would be reopening with only 1244 deaths. But we are getting almost that many every day. And the US tally is over 57 thousand, 45 times as high a mortality rate as New Zealand's. Can the two countries be compared? Clearly there are big differences, so direct parallels are difficult. But perhaps it's one reference point worth remembering...