The horse has bolted - but the awkward thing is that nobody knows when. Coronavirus traces were found in sewage water samples from Barcelona dated as early as March 2019. The first cases in many European countries are now winded back to the autumn of 2019. Lots of unexplained pneumonia cases in Q4 2019. Lots of people with flu-like symptoms over the winter, complaining that it was a weird flu that made them lose their smell and taste. Chances are, it was already in Europe long before it was diagnosed in Wuhan. That's not me fantasising, a number of independent and credible sources make such claims. The bloody thing slipped under the radar during a time with lots of seasonal infections - and by the time lockdown was enforced it was already widespread enough to cause thousands of cases per day weeks after the start of lockdown.
On a mature reflection, what could have been done better? Suspension of all flights from China as early as 1 January might have not helped at all if the virus was already among the European population. Suspension of intra-EU links and lockdown due to someone with unexplained pneumonia somewhere also sounds rather surreal. No politician would have taken responsibility for that. So, we just went about with life until the little lizard became a fire-breathing dragon. No border closure will help much now as it is everywhere - and cases can't always be clearly linked to one another. So, put on those masks, keep your distance, avoid crowds, do the shopping for your oldies whenever possible and try to survive. Not much else left.