Art, ol boy. The CT has up to 24-36 players during "prime time" (from what I've witnessed so far in even this, it's transistional phase, where it doesn't have converted historical terrains yet). It's never had but mostly single milkers or 2-3 grabbers in it's off hours since I've been playing.
The ... sky .... isn't .... falling.
P.S. CT players living outside the traditional "prime time" timezones (or who have unconventional working hours) should organize and recruit and perhaps someday "prime time" would be all the time.
(Don't take this post as critical of you ... it's just a different point of view. I'm more sypathetic to your plight than you realize ... but it's only something the community can address).