I've had some thoughts about this point for a while now. Let's say it started in America: would we have ever even caught it? What are the chances the initial few patients would have even had healh insurance? What are the chances they would have gone to see a doctor even if they did have insurance due to time/cost? What are the chances the doctor wouldn't have just said "sounds like the flu, go home and rest"? What are the odds the doctor would have ordered samples of the virus to be looked at to see if it was a novel disease? At every possible instance the American system would have failed horribly.