Community first
There are no easy words to discuss what the world is facing right now. As the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) situation is evolving rapidly, we encourage geocachers to follow the most current guidance from public health authorities when choosing how to participate in activities such as geocaching. Your health and safety are the top priority.
We understand that for many people geocaching is an especially valuable activity during this difficult time, since it’s a way to get outdoors and be active while adhering to social distancing standards advocated by health authorities. We wanted to share what we are doing at HQ regarding COVID-19.
Here at Geocaching HQ, we’re fortunate to have the option of working from home. Community is at the heart of everything we do, so right now, we’re all busy working to ensure that we can keep doing our best to support geocachers like you.
Speaking of support, many of you have already written to HQ with questions about future events and plans. We are actively working with Mega- and Giga-Event organizers, who will be able to reschedule their events in cooperation with HQ.
For regular Events and CITOs, we advise hosts to consult their regional health authorities to understand the guidance regarding gatherings of people. Generally, Geocaching HQ leaves the decision to Event hosts on whether to continue hosting the Event and to attendees on whether they will participate. In some regions, community volunteer reviewers may suspend publishing geocaches, including Events and/or may disable, retract, or archive already published Events, in accordance with guidance from health authorities.
We also want to allow flexibility for hosts who need to reschedule their published Community Celebration Events due to COVID-19 concerns, since this is a unique Event type. We have posted announcements on those Event pages to share the process for rescheduling.
Additionally, we plan to move our upcoming Memory Lane souvenir challenge from a start date of Monday, April 6 to Monday, May 4. We will continue to monitor the guidance for COVID-19, as well as your feedback as we get closer to May. Our goal is to have a promotion that is both fun and safe. As such, we will continue to make any adjustments as needed so that the promotion is as inclusive as possible.
For timely updates, please monitor our social media channels.
