From the very first inklings of this "threat" back in late 2019, before the mandates and closures, I could sense that this was getting cooked up to be a massive power grab by the deep state. Trump did his best to contain the virus in China where it originated, but was viciously castigated by the left and many ingnorants on the right.
As soon as the threat was made public, it wasn't a week until the executive orders and mandates began, before ANYTHING was substantively known. You could tell it was a cooked up "crisis" from a mile away.