That's the thing - they started the kerfuffle as a cover for cremation of their Hong Kong protesters (which the left won't talk about, and the media ignores), and when they saw that the US actually believed it, and that it was turning into a perfect storm of propaganda, they cranked it up. The media pushed safety - perfect safety - as the goal, and portrayed a bug that mostly killed people with one foot already in the grave as being deadly to everyone. Because, gee... it was the perfect chance to get at Orange Man, who had to rely upon... bureaucrats.... Who saw their chance for even more power at the same time. The push for perfect safety allowed cover for massive alterations of the voting process, and quite likely some serious fraud. Nothing with central planning - just a bunch of people who thought, thanks to media, that they were Doing The Right Thing.