Are no late fees really a response to the pandemic emptying libraries?

It's something libraries have been doing for a while. Here's a statement from the American Library Association in January 2019:

https://www.ala.org/aboutala/sites/ala.org.aboutala/files/co...

Key points:

    Whereas monetary fines present an economic barrier to access of library materials and services; 
    Whereas there is mounting evidence that indicates eliminating fines increases library card adoption and library usage; 
    Whereas monetary fines create a barrier in public relations, and absorb valuable staff time applying, collecting, and managing dues;

In other words: fines discriminate against poor people and make it harder for them to use the library. The whole point of a library is to make books available to everybody, especially those who can't afford them.

The pandemic gave them all a good opportunity to make the policy change, but the goal had been in place for a while.