The setting is definitely current because the pandemic is still waxing and waning, so there is no doubt that issues of some shortages are realistic. The empty aisles where toilet paper used to be seem to have been solved, but issues like that are so very recent that it almost seems anti-climatic to have a plot revolving around that as the opening scene. We've all lived through that. So of course, Max and Jonah are very believable characters.