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The Sturgis motorcycle rally contributed significantly to the spread of the coronavirus in South Dakota and in most of the United States: up to 266,796 infections (19% of cases recorded between August 2 and September 2 nationwide) It could be related to the event, the largest event organized in America since the beginning of the pandemic.
according to a team of researchers at San Diego State University who, through anonymous geolocation of mobile phones, have reconstructed the impact of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the 80th annual meeting that organizers had tried to postpone without success.
Given the consequences on shops and tourist facilities within hundreds of kilometers, and fearing that many cyclists would still be in Sturgis, the city council voted to proceed as planned. And so, between August 7 and 16, 462,182 motorcyclists from across the United States (data from the local Department of Transportation, 7.5% less than last year) flocked to this city of 7,000 inhabitants. along Interstate 90, the highway that connects the country from the east or west, linking Boston and Seattle. They packed bars, casinos and tattoo studios many times without wearing a mask or respecting distance, even participating in a music festival in which, among others, Smash Mouth played, much criticized for the participation and the singer’s departure. Steve Harwell. We’re all here tonight, fuck Covid-19, he had yelled from the stage.
Since then, there has been an increase in cases in the Midwest. Through contact tracking, The South Dakota Department of Health had detected 124 infections related to the rally, while a Washington Post analysis had tracked another 204 in 20 states.– The only confirmed victim for a Minnesota man in his 60s with prior medical conditions. However, according to epidemiologists, that count was incomplete: Many of the participants refuse to take samples, and in some states, follow-up is quite limited. Then came the San Diego State University study, which also looked at the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June, according to that the economic impact of the 266 thousand infections linked to Sturgis that would be estimated at 12.2 billion dollars.
a widely misleading study. This non-science fiction, commented the ambitious governor of the republic Kristi Noem.. South Dakota state officials question the methodology and effectiveness, arguing that the figures are grossly exaggerated, but health authorities warned Governor Noe ahead of the event. That, in the name of the personal freedoms on which the United States is founded, He had previously resisted imposing restrictions and masks on his state.and then he welcomed thousands of people who, on their motorcycles, had reached Sturgis’ small Main Street in early August.
September 9, 2020 (change September 9, 2020 | 7:37 PM)
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