We as a society do through government. That's why the speed limit in Alabama is 70 on I-85 and it's 55 through much of South Carolina. Different states tolerate risk differently. California collectively tolerates less risk and even had a de facto referendum on that with the recall and stuck with that plan. We've seen the consequences en masse between states.

And as far as your health differential, most of the difference in per capita deaths between Alabama and California can be explained by per capita cases. Alabama has 69% more deaths and 39% more per cases per capita than California. Alabama has also done half as many per capita tests, so they've missed a lot more cases than California, which would explain a lot of the difference between 69 and 39%. Health certainly matters some, but not nearly as much as simply avoiding spread and vaccinating as much of the population as you can.