What’s making it not working is the widespread noncompliance.
Now you may consider that an indelible feature of the landscape, as inevitable / inexorable as gravity. The rest of us don’t.
The various state and local governments may be trying to contain the pandemic. But the public isn’t trying. Or at least a very large fraction of them are not. In fact many are doing their damndest to spread it as fast and as far as they can. Some with genuine malice aforethought, many more out of simple selfish willful ignorance.
Perhaps once they’ve all had somebody in their family or immediate circle of friends die they’ll begin to believe this is real. Or perhaps not.
As Pogo almost said:
We have met the enemy. And it’s not a virus.