Covid is significantly worse than flu. We get circa 20k deaths annually with flu, with no social distancing, masks etc. Even with those measures covid numbers are higher, let alone if we did nothing at all.
West Ham are competing for a top 4 place with the big six with a much smaller budget. Sure it is a bit of a leap for us to even get to West Ham levels of wages and transfer fees. But it doesn't need to be Man City or Chelsea levels of spending to get us up the table.
If a new owner made it possible for some clever signings in the £20m to £40m bracket like West Ham, Wolves, Leicester have it would make a huge difference.