Cases of Coronavirus linked to this month’s Sturgis motorcycle rally have crossed state lines and began appearing in Nebraska, according to state health officials on Thursday.
Panhandle health officials identified the rally as the exhibit point and said at least seven cases were “spread across” the state’s Panhandle region, the Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported.
“These are actually people who live in our Panhandle Public Health District area and that we investigated, who went to Sturgis, and that was the point of exposure,” said Paulette Schnell, director of Scotts Bluff County Health.
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Motorcyclists ride through Deadwood, South Dakota in downtown during the 80th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally on August 8, 2020. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images)
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally this year drew more than 460,000 motorcyclists who landed on the sparsely populated South Dakota city during the 10-day event, according to South Dakota transport officials on Tuesday.
Health officials are worried that many people after the rally back to their homes could make the virus difficult to track. Cases involving two people were already involved in the collision.
On Thursday, State Health officials announced that an employee of Asylum Tattoo Sturgis, located on Main Street in the city, has tested positive for COVID-19. The individual worked at the company for 10 to 2 hours every day from August 13 to August 18, where officials said they could transmit the virus to others.
The South Dakota Department of Health on Tuesday had previously warned that a person would test positive for the virus after visiting One-Eyed Jack’s Saloon in Main Street from noon to 5:30 p.m. on August 11 and could also pass the virus on to others. in that time period.
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“Because of the risk of exposure, individuals who visited the company[s] during the indicated dates and times, they should check for symptoms for 14 days after they visited, “said health officials.
While traffic was about eight percent lower than the previous year, the rally had nearly twice as many people than what officials originally expected.
Some people wore masks and some said they were crowded, while many others packed close together at bars and rock shows.
The mass rally has raised concerns that it could become an epicenter of infections and the city plans to conduct mass COVID-19 tests in an effort to catch outbreaks.
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“That gathering was the largest gathering that has happened in the world since the pandemic began,” Panhandle director of public health Kim Engel told the paper. “It was a very important event.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
