re: Asian nations turning on a dime back to seeming normalcy (China/S. Korea) doesn't add up

Not only did S Korea do a ton of testing, they went over and beyond with quarantining, just not the way everyone else is.

what they did not do is say "ok, everyone stay at home and do nothing"
what they did do is every time someone tested positive, they traced their every move using credit card info, phone records and others and actually uploaded everything in an app to show where known people with the virus had been in the past few days. That person was then self quarantined and it let everyone else in the country know if they may have come in contact with a person with it.

they learned their lesson from MERS, and had a plan ready if it ever happen again.
Oh and MERS stands for Middle East blah blah, but if anyone wants to rename it b/c they are offended they can eat a dick.