How will FT recruiting work this summer for current SAs?

Might just be out of my mind to even be talking about this considering all the current environment and perhaps no firms even will consider any external FT hires? I’ve read some posts and understand how you’re supposed to start networking with people at your target firms in the second half of the summer and then reach right back out when you get a return offer.

While in a way a virtual environment makes this far easier, I’m extremely wary of my name ever going back to my current firm after reaching out to people elsewhere for several weeks and feel it is too risky. Am I just being paranoid? Is it normal for an SA to just reach out to an analyst at the target firm right after receiving a return offer and just asking to be put into the FT process at some place like an EB?

Likewise, are the interviews here very rigorous more so than SA interviews? Or is it treated more like a lateral process where from what I understand the return offer from a MM is enough and it’s mostly just checking in on why you want to make the move?