Instead of THE GUBBMINT being evil by LOCKING EVERYTHING DOWN in some scary QUARANTINE ZONE or the like, imagine a "got to build up zombie bite immunity" response, or one with pseudoscientific treatments, or pretty much anything so can feel like things are back to normal while zombies are just a thing that continues happening.
Add your own ideas if you like.
It's funny but in....dawn of the dead I think (the one that takes place chiefly in a mall), it felt like they're taking a crack at liberals when they showed people talking about zombies being people and having rights (if I recall the scene correctly). Here in reality though, when covid struck, it was reactionaries fighting lockdowns, vaccines and the wearing of masks, and killing themselves and the older members of their family with this behavior.
You know one thing I'd love to see a movie do (but they'd have to be 'woke', aka paying attention)? I'd love for them to actively bring up and acknowledge that the US and the UK are both among the top ten countries on every 'top ten countries best prepared to handle a pandemic' list but actually fail to even try to handle the pandemic, meanwhile China's actually doing a phenomenal job and are getting crapped on for it.