I think it's even simpler. He lost his crew. Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck left to write 'The Expanse' series. GRRM obviously can't finish on his own.

Well if that's the case, I'm ready to go. I've put up with enough stupid for one lifetime. I'll be happy to leave this planet to the brain-dead zombies.

Covid-1984 has also cured heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Hallelujah! https://web.archive.org/web/20201126163323/https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2020/11/a-closer-look-at-u-s-deaths-due-to-covid-19

Webb also said he would never, ever commit suicide.

Why this campaign of terror, you have to ask? Why, in the midst of a genuine pandemic, would anyone need to be reminded unceasingly that death is dogging their footsteps? That at any moment The Virus, wafted abroad by some super-spreader passed fleetingly in the street, might be insinuating itself into one’s body – or, worse, that we ourselves, infected but unaffected, might be silently contaminating a loved-one? The short answer is, they wouldn’t. In a genuine pandemic, this constant mental battering would be superfluous. If the Black Death were raging outside my door, government would know full well that they didn’t have to fork out millions to convince me to stay inside; more likely, they would have to pay me to leave the house.

https://off-guardian.org/2020/12/13/why-this-campaign-of-terror/

One guy ran the numbers for his master's thesis. Read it and weep. https://web.archive.org/web/20201126163323/https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2020/11/a-closer-look-at-u-s-deaths-due-to-covid-19

1. Cases (people who test positive using a totally bogus test) of Covid-1984 /= infections. Almost everyone who tests positive is healthy.

2. Respiratory infections increase in the winter due to lack of sunshine (Vit D) and exercise. Duh.

If this happens, it won't be from a "virus". ("Viruses" are just random bits of genetic material and there's zero evidence that they can cause disease.) Nanobots, on the other hand, are definitely real.