ŞŦŘΔŇǤ€ŘVƗŁŁ€ Ω/Δ (Contains Spoilers - Enter at own risk)

There might be cheats to just skip the whole thing, still trying to get info on that.

Other than that. When you first start out, the story is minimal. If you decided to live there, you'll have to play through a little something (similar to any new hood you move too). After that, you will see plants around town and a small amount of infected townies. Your active Sims won't get infected unless you want them to. I don't know how it is about played Sims. Sims from other hoods also won't be affected. Some of the pre-mades do seem pre-infected. If you want to play those, you'll probably need to use a cheat or play the story.

You have to actively dive into the story to make it more.