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First entry: Wednesday 9 September 2020, 01:10
The 460,000 motorcyclists who gathered in South Dakota in August and their indifference towards the pandemic led to a total of 260,000 new cases of Covid-19, researchers estimate in a study published Tuesday.
This number, which has not been independently confirmed, makes this 10-day rally the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the largest documented coronavirus outbreak in the United States to date.
The study, conducted by economists at the University of San Diego and published by the Institute for Labor Economics (IZA), is a statistical estimate based on anonymous mobility data obtained in and around the small town of Stergez, a rural area. it is flooded every year in summer by an army of motorists.
This data confirmed the number of people who went camping, went out, drank, ate and listened to concerts, most of the time without a mask, during the 80th rally from August 7-16. . They also pointed out the regions where the motorcyclists came from.
By comparing this geographic data to official Covid-19 case numbers during August, the researchers calculated the wave of infections that spread to Sturgess and spread across the country: 266,796 new cases, or 19% of the 1, 4 millions. cases reported in the United States between August 2 and September 2, for a financial cost of $ 12.2 billion, according to a study that estimated each non-fatal case at $ 46,000.
In South Dakota, the number of cases increased dramatically during the summer, from nearly 100 new daytime cases in early August to 300 in late August, according to the Covid Tracking Project, but the death toll remained very low. (one dead per day on average).
This statistical analysis is just one approach, because no one tracked or performed a diagnostic test for coronavirus on each individual rider. Furthermore, the analysis was not published by a scientific journal, no independent scientist evaluated the methodology. Finally, the number of cases increased in every Midwest state during the summer, not just South Dakota.
