Not really. The contentious part in your claim is the "a LOT". You need to prove that it got worse under COVID in degree even remotely comparable to how it got worse after 9/11.
Also 9 churches have been burned in the last month alone. In the US riots something like 60 people died, and countless businesses and livelihoods were destroyed.
I would say its a LOT.
And I think I understand why, it's because we worry less about the stuff that we think few other people believe, and more about things that we think lots of other people will believe and act on. Flat-earthers were firmly in the "who cares" category for a long time (and probably still are but I'm less sure these days).
But it's unfortunate that the COVID-19 related content is now setting the precedent for what kind of speech should be scrubbed from all popular platforms and hosts, with what kind of government guidance and public pressure.