It may be a bit harsh, but it makes sense. Too many people are trying to take advantage of the situation to pull scams.

It's a lot easier for Google to operate on a whitelist model than a blacklist model.

No, it doesn’t. They can do the exact thing Apple is doing which is to accept or reject each app on an individual basis instead of blanket refusing every app that is even related to Covid.

What they’re effectively doing is creating a monopoly in the private sector. No other private company is allowed.

Then Google would be building a whitelist. They aren't doing that, they are using a position of power to isolate the market for themselves. That is a monopoly.

They are building a whitelist. They even made the criteria public. You have to be a government or health entity to publish a Covid related app.

That isn't a whitelist, there is no way on it with a legitimate app when the entry criteria is being a state.

That is a whitelist. They don't have to be easy to get on, or, indeed, to even allow any new entries.

With the sheer amount of scam, privacy invading apps that are preying on people’s fear, can you blame them?

Yes, I can. They should do their job of vetting the apps. They have a disclaimer that it will take 7 days then they just reject it for being tangentially related to Covid even if it could have a positive impact.

A silver lining for the failure of PWAs: they can't really be used to get around the appstore requirements and defraud people.

Download an APK if you want. Google doesn't have a complete monopoly on Android app marketplaces.