Sadly, I think you're right.
In 1940s Germany, fighter pilots were heroes until their leaders blamed them for losing the war. To them, the loss had nothing to do with the evil of their regime, the emotions it stirred up in the rest of the Western world, or the overwhelming force of the Allies' response. They laid it all at the feet of the people who actually did the fighting; they told the nation that their cities were blown up because the fighter pilots personally failed to stop the Allied bombers. Public opinion turned against the pilots.
Now, I'm not quite comparing our current administration to the Nazi leaders, and I'm certainly not comparing our front line workers to their fighter pilots, but I can absolutely see a similar dynamic unfolding in a few months. First, the people in charge publicly denied that there was even a problem, then they misinformed everybody as to the severity of it, then they grossly mishandled (and probably corrupted) the response to it, and now they're undermining the efforts of everyone who actually did something to fight this thing.
When the second wave hits, it seems all too likely that scapegoating will be next. We're going to see a rerun of everything we've been through in the last couple of months, except next time, the people in charge will probably be shouting from the peanut gallery at the researchers and healthcare workers for not stopping it the first time. I just hope the public isn't stupid enough to believe them.