Comment by chickenzzzzu

Awesome thanks for all of that. Then it sounds like the only way a nation state could block VPNs is if they decided to "go nuclear" and do what the person above said-- block anyone who they detect is using a VPN/encrypted channel.

Based on that information, the theory for why a nation state would block https like this for a moment is either an accident, or to only block the low hanging fruit of people who don't use a VPN.