@Zumbador @inthehands Very much this. I don't think the hopelessness was intentional in relation to the pandemic specifically, but it's a feature, not a bug, in late-stage capitalism, which is the context in which the pandemic went from natural disaster to rampant social murder.
Cf. abortion bans, the looming specter of bathroom bills & book bans: rights revocations mean you can't guess, so you can't plan. It's terrorism. For many it rehashes existing trauma too.