I am not sure why Andrew chose to issue this communication today.
If you look at cases around the world:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
And cases in the USA
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
they are dropping like a stone. Even deaths that lag by 2-3 weeks are dropping. All of these countries with different lockdown, distancing and vaccination regimes are down relative to November: UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Italy, Russia, India, Bangladesh, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Colombia, Ukraine, Israel, Indonesia (just down a bit), Sweden, Canada.
What you see is this thing is down across the board. Of the countries with big numbers, only Brazil is flat relative to November.
So I am just bringing this up, because I believe in a month things around the world looks dramatically different (you can quote this in a month). With Covid19 naturally going down due to efforts of everyone worldwide and vaccincations imminently coming in to cover the rest, the picture will change.
Andrew should have just waited for another month to say anthing.
I THINK what he is trying to say is, “we’re not cancelling anything because we think it will all happen but it depends on local authorities”. I think they are making the right call, because all the Covid19 curves worldwide are going way down. But they cannot say anything definitively now, so if I was working for him, I would say there is nothing to gain by making a communication that gives no certainty to athletes/customers.
I would have waited a bit longer.
Dev- this is the thing that no one seems to be talking about.
Numbers ARE dropping quickly. In the US, I believe vaccination % is going to go the roof over next 3 months (I would argue as much as for political reasons as anything, but still a good thing). At least IN THE US - if things “look good”… I have no doubt that races - and other events - will happen. Probably not all. But definitely some races in some geographies. It’s going to be on the individual racer whether she/he feels comfortable racing.
Funny enough - I actually think late spring races may have as great a chance as any - think about it: numbers trending way down, hospitalizations way down, host cities need oxygen ($), everyone can’t wait to do things…lets get races in! Not everywhere of course… but IM Florida already shows the playbook.
And yeah, I probably would have waited for a month too.
It would be one thing if numbers were dropping like I stone only in one of say Germany or Leichtenstein or San Marino only. But something good is happening when they are dropping simultaneously in that many places around the world.
There is a chance here for racing. Even Ironman events are not big compared to pro sports in stadiums and marathons and most trade show conventions and cultural events and outdoor triathlons are quite spread out inherently so with numbers dropping all around the world, there is a good chance that many communities allow these types of events in the future
Anyway, Andrew gained nothing by communicating now. 4 weeks later, I think everyone across the world is in a far better mood in general. I would have advised him to say nothing because MOST of their races don’t start till May (there are only a few in March and April and he could have dealt with them case by case)