It does seem to be the go to narrative for stories about why there are objections and protests, ignoring or dismissing any others.

Every story that lasts long enough to gain traction on Reddit only mentions covid 19 and none of;

1. the general health concerns some people are asking about,

2. or the changes this will mean regarding capability to track locations through phones to a much finer degree regardless of what users do to limit such things,

3. or that China pushing to supply the infrastructure for the networks may then be able to use whatever back doors they put in and don't tell anyone about for whatever purposes they want, which may include selling said access to interested groups yet permit deniability in the same way the Eyes groups can.

Admittedly that option requires China to play with others so may be less likely compared to self driven interests.