I can think of two hypotheses why this is happening.
marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolu…
* Things got very bad, very fast
* People got very angry
* Can't protest a virus, so you protest the response to the virus. No matter what it is.
The protests are against stuff, but not for specific actions (other than naive do-nothing-ism)
* Centralized quarantine
* Vaccinations
* Businesses asking customers to wear masks
* Temperature checks (private or public)
* Lockdowns
I think tribal polarization+Gurri is the clearest framework to view these protests.