No masks (nearly useless anyway) and a shortage of ventilators (70-90% die if they get to this point).

Now mayors (not health authorities) mandate masks and really whip up more fear.  Every politician wants to hang his political hat on his handling of the coronavirus outbreak.  Wear a mask or otherwise you won't be allowed to stand in line to get food at the grocery store, or at least others in line will chase you away, being fearful of transmission of infectious disease themselves.

With the population feeling defenseless because there is no vaccine, a last gasp measure is to quarantine and socially space (isolate) people, which is obviously not working in Italy (see chart below), didn't work on an ocean liner, and didn't work on an aircraft carrier.