Liberal individualism has an innate tendency towards authoritarianism
Accepting the premise for the sake of the argument, this isn't exclusive to liberals. It's literally just a narrow application of the idea that people are the way that they are because it gives them a sense of control. The exact same can be said about conservatives when they don't value freedom of choice or consider a majority of the public's opinion on a political decision.
But fr, COVID wasn't our endgame. A one-world NWO government is. A pandemic was just the vehicle to get us there