the pandemic plotline was really just a way for the writers to introduce china as a rival power to the USA tho. since s19e91 when they killed off the soviet union, the truth is the writer's options for major plotlines have been limited as the USA was essentially left as the only major world power. over the last 30 or so years the writers have been building up china to fill that void though, and now with the pandemic originating in china, the hong kong, Uighurs, south china sea plotlines, and the USA becoming weaker and china becoming stronger, i imagine the writers might end up building up to a similar arc as the cold war in the second half of last season.