I believe the almighty preaching work that was the centerpiece of the Watchtower cult has been in steady decline for years, but that the response to COVID-19 is the death knell. I grew up as a Witness through the 80s and 90s. I left in the 2000s when I was in my 30s and was completely out in 2010. I remember during the time that I was PIMI the door-to-door ministry was the central practice of being a Witness. Go to the 5 weekly meetings and, at a minimum, spend 4 hours knocking on doors on Saturday. To do otherwise was heresy.
Then the Governing Body decided to be the Popes of Warwick. Witnesses were ordered to stop doing research. The Watchtower will tell them what they need to know. That created a problem. How do you competently carry out the door-to-door ministry while being ignorant of the Bible and your own dogmas? Easy - enter JW.Org and the Youtube-esque Witnessing work.
Like the old colporteurs of the Russell days, Witnesses exchanged the portable phonograph for the iPad and the Studies in the Scriptures for the simplified issues of the Watchtower. Door-to-door Witnessing became robotic. Even trained chimpanzees could carry out the work. There was no more preaching and teaching. It's all an advertisement for a website.
Then COVID-19 hit. I never thought I would see the day when the Governing Body would tell their organization to stop participating in the public ministry. I could see them saying don't go door-to-door. The in-person, face-to-face ministry was the central practice of being a Witness. Only those with extreme physical restrictions were told to do phone Witnessing or letter writing.
How many times were we guilted and shamed with stories of Witnesses in the former Soviet Union who risked their very lives to informally Witness to a co-worker, someone on public transportation, or on the street corner? Yes, actually risk public execution for such a thing. Now, it's stay home and tune in to JW.Org because of a virus that you may or may not get and if you do it probably won't kill you unless you already have an underlying illness or you're old.
The Governing Body may tell Witnesses that it's alright to go back to carrying on in the public ministry sometime next year, but it wouldn't surprise me to see a significant number of Witnesses claim they would be unnecessarily risking their lives to do so. I see the fear or perceived fear of communicable disease being the new crutch Witnesses use to excuse themselves from attending meetings and field service.
Witnesses are obsessed with being text book doctors and holistic healing. The love self-diagnosing themselves with diseases both real and make believe. They are huge supporters of faux-medicine such as essential oils and other "natural remedies".
I think the future of being a Jehovah's Witness is sitting on the living room couch with a mask on while watching JW.Org saying "I'm a Witness," like Ralph from The Simpsons.