No OP, its the powers that be preparing to cut down the population to a manageable level so humanity can make the transition into a post-electricity age without tearing itself apart, and then survive for a few decades and still have enough survivors so that some make it through the cyclical micronova.



- 2019: release the initial weak virus to seed everywhere
- Feb/March 2020: Wuhan launch party to freak the world out
- Through 2020: lockdowns and control measures put evolutionary pressures on virus to stoke variants
- Early 2021: people demand mass vaccinations, which puts more evolutionary pressures, and creates even more variants
- Late 2021: almost everyone in developed world has taken the vaccine

Meanwhile:
- Magnetosphere is rapidly waning
- More charged particles and cosmic rays get through, playing havoc with weather and climate
- All blamed on CO2, and most people too distracted by COVID to notice
- Powers that be stockpile resources, but again, people don't notice, its all blamed on COVID problems

Near Future:
- CME takes out large parts/all global grids, plunges us back to pre-electrical age
- 'Luckily' the vaxxed are 'switched off' or already dead, so there's enough supplies to last the survivors until they've adjusted to new ways

In a decade or two:
- Sun goes micronova
- Most of those left die, but enough make it through to start over... the cycle continues.