The latest balloon crossed the US over a period of like 8 days, right? So....not similar incidents at all. It would make sense that it's not as big a deal if a balloon were to, say, dip into a coastal state for a "brief" period and then leave US airspace as the balloons are apparently maneuverable.
"senior Pentagon officials said in an on-background press conference on Saturday that suspected Chinese surveillance balloons crossed into the US at least three times during the Trump administration and once earlier in the Biden administration.
"PRC [People's Republic of China] government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States
briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time,"
a senior defense official said at the conference."