The difference is that people now argue "but we have to suspend civil liberties because there's a deadly virus that could kill me/my mom/dad/uncle/aunt/granma/granpa/etc." Humans overwhelmingly value safety over liberty. So appealing to civil liberties is not going to work as an argument for the people who agree with lockdowns. In fact they mockingly say "muh liberty" "muh freedumbs" on reddit.