I won't be surprised if that turns out to be true. Wearing masks and social distancing is applying selective pressure toward mutant strains that are more transmissible (the direction if which viruses tend to mutate even in the absence of specific selective pressure).
Notable
It is possible that POTUS has simply been unable to pull together enough support, in the intelligence community, the Republican party and the military, to "pull it off." I'm hoping this is not the case, fervently hoping.