This is a precipitous road due to conflation. Are we talking about the pandemic as a social phenomenon, or as a spread of a virus?

It's evident that there's been political gain on the matter, which is a "manufactured" social phenomenon, but it's obvious that there's a physically propagating coronavirus that mutates and spreads via airborne transmission.

Unfortunately, I've seen people vacillate back-and-forth on the two depending on what they're trying to assert.