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I think things like taxes are more binary in terms of whether you lied. Either the numbers match or they don't. Covid misinformation is essentially down to who you think is telling the truth. The federal government would probably get it right in this circumstance, but state governments? Eh, depends on the state
Covid is quite binary too: either it exists and people are sick and dying / already died, or it doesn't and everyone is faking and the "dead" are pulling insurance scams. Sounds quite obvious and testable to me!
It's simple: the one telling the truth is the one we know closest to the truth now. In a decade or two, when history changes, we can adjust on the go. Back in the 50s every doctor said bacon was healthy and eggs were the devil; in the 60s it was the turn of milk and bacon, respectively; then in the 70s, eggs and cheese. And so on. Sometimes you have to just be able to operate legally with information that is patently true and peer-reviewed.
So we're just punishing the people who say Covid doesn't exist? How far do you want us to clamp down on freedom of speech exactly? What about people who say we overreacted? What's an example of misinformation we should have punished people for?
To me honestly it's quite simple: like any other personal right, my "freedom of speech" ends where other people's rights begin. If what I'm saying both is patently untrue and deals a net harm for society - be it because of what I'm saying it or because of how I'm saying it, then it can't be protected. It would be backwards for the purpose of a State if it was.
So for your example of misinformation that we should punish people for, it's quite patent-as-untrue stuff that leads to harm, such as "drinking bleach will immunize you from Covid!" (leads people to self-harm), or "it's because of the niggas / gays / asians / anything non-Christian living in your neighbourhood" (leads people to cause harm to others). Something like "Covid doesn't exist", while patently untrue, does not invite harm in any way that I see as proportionally punishable (but for comparison "let's organize to evade vaccinations because Covid doesn't exist" does invite harm to others, so it should be punishable).
Then again this all assumes it's only about government prosecution. XKCD "show the door" applies here for any private party who feels they are given harm by some nutjob announcing that Covid doesn't exist and trying to convince my grandma to drink bleach over Instagram, and there's no "but muh freedom of peach" complain to take about that.