Nobody is grading on a curve here. The whole point is that, while it is fair to criticize certain States for their lack of a clear strategy (there are only a few), when it comes to COVID, the US as a whole is not a monolithic entity, it is a collection of States.

Each State has its own government, and each government has its own infectious disease agency (each with billions of dollars in funding), a chief executive, and a legislature. People forget that individual American states have GDPs on par with sovereign countries. California is comparable to the UK, NY to South Korea, Texas to Canada. The US State with the lowest GDP per capita, Mississippi, is comparable to Portugal.

At the outset of the outbreak, the vast majority of US States initiated systematic responses comparable to that of peer nation-states. Most citizens of most states ARE demanding a clear strategy from their State governments, and that's what they're getting.

The CDC provides an advisory role, and has no authority to issue lockdown mandates, close businesses, close schools, or issue testing or mask requirements. The US States may rely on the CDC advice, but it can also choose to ignore it or supplement it with the recommendations of their own State disease control agencies. Keep in mind that the CDC and the FDA both dropped the ball multiple times during this outbreak (dragging their feet on approving new testing, flip flopping on mask policy).

While it would be awesome for the Federal government to coordinate the perfect COVID response, the US is set up in such a way that the States don't need to rely on such an ideal.