In the beginning of the year COVID-related stocks (I have here a chart of APT but you overlay almost any early CV play and see similar pattern) were following identically the peaks and troughs of VIX. Then in Feb- March, while CV stocks hit a peak, VIX continue to move up significantly the rest of March. This was the beginning of the decoupling. While there has been some relationship left (a good example is in June VIX and CV stocks bottomed around the same time) they by in large are doing their own thing. This is important if you are looking at VIX solely for CV trades.