We Are Finally Opening Up! (But What Does It Mean?)
A word on the current state of the pandemic from RaceID CEO Erik Sjöbeck.
Sweden has now followed Denmark to remove the Covid restrictions and It looks like the pandemic is entering a new phase. The recent decision by governments in the Nordic area may show the way forward for countries around the world, but what will the impact be for race organizers and participants?
Last year, we saw countries taking different approaches on how to risk assess outdoor race events during the pandemic. Many countries allowed races to proceed early on during the pandemic and some opened up fully last year as outdoor events were not a major factor for spreading the virus.
Outdoor events contribute to general public health
If the countries opening up can maintain open societies with minimal restrictions over time, despite new variants of the virus appearing to circle around, it is likely that outdoor events such as races will be in somewhat of a safe zone. My view is that races gather healthy participants and clearly contribute to the overall preventive health of societies. These two factors alone should be reasons for governments to avoid including races into restrictions going forward.
Traveling in 2022 and onwards
I think that we will still see the impact of Covid in related areas to races such as travel. The likelihood is that vaccine mandates may remain in areas such as airplane travel. As we learn more about the impact of opening up it and if the trend continues to be positive, we may see these kind of mandates loosening over time.
Other services such as hotels and restaurants that often work together with race events will in my opinion open up quickly. I think that the big difference in 2022 will be that these places will host more people from other countries to a larger extent than the previous years. This as an effect of more people also daring to travel.
What can we expect next?
Looking at how societies have behaved and reacted to new restrictions, my view is that many societies will quickly go back to a social environment where large race events will come back to splendour quickly. I am personally really happy about the fact that countries are opening up in full as I know what race organizers have gone through over the past two years.
I can’t wait for all races to get going again and want to welcome all participants to join the race party of 2022!
Check out how RaceID can help you and boost your race when sociaties open up.
