South Dakota health officials have warned that a number of people attending the 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally this month, including some who came from the state, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Health department officials said Thursday that less than 25 rallyers tested positive, but they did not give an exact number. The rally, which ended Sunday, brought hundreds of thousands of people to the city in the western part of the state. Even before it started, some locals and officials expressed concern that COVID-19 could spread rapidly during the rally and that it would be difficult to track down rally goers who became infected before returning home.
The state health department has received reports from other states that people traveling to the rally are testing positive, said state epidemiologist Josh Clayton.
Contacts could work with most people to determine who they ran into and who might have been infected. But the Department of Health has issued public warnings for two bars – one in Sturgis and the other at a popular stop for riders along U.S. Highway 385 at Mt. Rushmore. Clayton said officials did not know how many people were exposed to the bars.
The health department did not immediately respond to a question about what other states have reported infections among people who attended the rally.
Sturgis plans to conduct new week mass tests of its residents in an attempt to stop a possible spread of infections from the rally.
The news of the rally comes amid a rise in coronavirus infection rates in South Dakota. Health officials reported Thursday that there were 125 new confirmed cases of the virus and two new deaths from COVID-19. In the last two weeks, the average number of daily new cases has increased by 32, an increase of about 43%.
With schools in the state set to welcome students back to class in the coming days, health officials said they plan to track and release data on infections among students, teachers and staff. They have so far found less than 40 school-related cases, but they said they would not break these infections through the school districts where they occurred.
Clayton said the schools students and parents will be notified when they find cases, but the health department reports the total number of cases to give a statewide view on infections in schools.
Since the pandemic began, South Dakota has confirmed 10,884 cases. The death toll from the coronavirus disease state is 159.
