One thing in the wording that makes me suspect we may be looking at this all wrong:
"At the same time that we're decreasing the published program's PQP requirements, via a promotion from May 1 through December 31, 2020, we're doubling (for United Explorer cards) or quadrupling (for United Club cards) the maximum number of PQP that Cardmembers can earn by using their card during 2020 to help achieve a higher level of status than you already have. More details to come."

The details of this promotion could be anything, it could very well be personalized spend targets to get additional PQP, or spend with United gets PQP up to the limit, or any number of other things. I'm going to hold off deciding what I think about this until we hear the "More details to come"