Exactly. Consider the erosion of long-standing norms in the west over the last four years and how far society has slipped. These are the first, strong, signs that things are starting to go off the rails.
That is frightening.
unless, somehow, it should turn out they were really bad for business in which case out they go once no longer needed.
on edit: clarification at end.
Why don't you worry instead about whether we get a trial before we get shot or locked up?
Our home-grown flavor of fascism is influenced by Nazi Germany in particular but has far outpaced it by systematically co-opting and diluting any attempts to divert from the status quo. Pride parades are paid for by banks, Black Lives Matter is supported by companies with histories of racial discrimination, hell, the phrase "All Cops Are Bastards" was taken by Liberals to mean "some cops (not your friends) are bastards (but they're good people just forced to do some bad stuff)". The Right has convinced the populace that the Left wants to censor and restrict the people when in reality the opposite is true. Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
I think China is still learning to ride the bike of authoritarianism. A truly totalitarian government will seem to its people to be completely democratic.
Game theory alone tells you that if this were deliberate and unnecessary then there would be an immense payoff to any power that decided not to wreck their economy as this would catapult them ahead of their neighbors.
I am reading some unstated skepticism about the scope or severity of the pandemic in your response here, the so-called "Plandemic". I would urge you to look at this issue again, as you clearly are concerned about creeping authoritarianism, but feel you are making a serious attribution error here.