That does indeed seem increasingly likely to me. It was also a good opportunity to violate Constitutions, Laws, and get people afraid so they would accept authoritarian moves and tyranny with little objection.
They even turn the average people that are afraid into tools to push the tyranny in their behalf.
As @klye pointed out in another reply. I often think of the "Georgia Guidestones" and in particular the line talking about maintaining the population at a number WAY lower than it is today.
To reach that population billions of people alive would need to not be alive. This could be accomplished long term by reducing fertility, aborting, etc. It could accomplished much more rapidly by something like what they are doing now.
