Author here - I'm willing to bet online sales in general went up during the pandemic period. I can ask some of the guys I interviewed if they noticed any upticks in requests and can report back
so there has been an uptick in demand from the community. Covid has blown up the hobby in terms of size, as many more people have joined this year. and group buys are sold out in seconds (some to flip it for 300% the price, others who actually love/want the board)