In the USA there are over 89,000 municipal governments, 50 state governments, and the federal government which has over 2 million civilian workers. During the pandemic none of those "collapsed" that I'm aware of. The checks still went out and the garbage still got picked up. You could still get a speeding ticket and kids still had to do homework. I dare say that unlike the market sector, not many government employees seem to have lost or changed their jobs, except possibly some cops. But the market didn't collapse either since the power stayed on, the internet kept running, and there were groceries in the supermarket. No one died in the street in front of a locked hospital. I'm grateful for all of the people who coped with the changes and the danger and kept on working.

There was a crisis, and it was worse in some places than others and some governments dealt with it better than others, but none of them collapsed. The fact that the author could jump on an airliner and fly half way around the World to see a lover would indicate that civilization is still working pretty well.