One way you could tell that the national media hadn't figured out its angle on corona until April and the cheesy TikTok dances was those stories of NYC and suburban Detroit hospitals getting overrun in March with no PPE to protect staff were mostly kept to local news
The "emotional impact" is payload; gotta decide on the target first which requires them settling on a narrative. Once that's done the sorties begin in a clockwork fashion Setup -> deliver payload on target -> reflect somberly Repeat