It was a liberal party doing it with a new woman leader and the people protesting treated as some kind of total misunderstanding of reality or an excuse for government crackdown for conspiratorial reasons.

I imagine this is more or less how it would go if it really happened. Maybe if it had more enforced air ventilation/quality upgrades in buildings and expansions to health services and workers right to stay home sick it'd go over better, but I kinda' doubt it too.