“We already had ‘learned’ the lessons from the Sturgis rally last year when it produced outbreaks across the country,” Dr.
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“What we hoped would happen is that the organizers would have met with public health experts and talk about how to have the event while minimizing risk.” “What’s alarming with Sturgis is the defiance: ‘We know there’s this risk, but we’re going to do it anyway.’ They could have had a mask mandate or vaccination requirements,” Castrucci said.
“Sturgis had all of the things required for a superspreader event and that seems to be what happened,” Brian Castrucci, DrPH, an epidemiologist and president and chief executive officer of the de Beaumont Foundation, a public health advocacy organization, told Healthline. However, he added, “The impact that a single event like this has on overall caseloads is difficult if not impossible to assess, given that the SARS CoV-2 virus and the Delta variant are still so widely circulating in our communities.”
“Anytime people are in large gatherings, and especially if they are not vaccinated, not wearing masks, or practicing social distancing, there is an increased risk of spread of the virus,” Schultz noted. It’s unclear, however, whether the recent spike in cases and the 2021 rally are related.ĭoug Schultz, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Public Health, told Healthline that 24 Minnesota residents have been identified as having likely developed COVID-19 at the Sturgis rally. Another study by economists who tracked cellphone data of rally attendees estimated that the event could have been responsible for up to 266,000 cases. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) traced at least 649 cases to the event in 2020. This is not the first time the Sturgis rally has been linked to a sharp uptick in COVID-19 cases. The Associated Press reports that contact tracers from five states have recorded 178 COVID-19 cases among individuals who attended the 2021 rally. Meade County is now considered a COVID-19 hotspot, with a more than 100 percent increase in cases in the past 2 weeks. The 7-day average of COVID-19 cases in the state was 54 on August 6. Now, in the weeks after the start of the rally, COVID-19 cases in South Dakota have risen sharply, according to data compiled by the New York Times. It had no rules requiring use of face masks or physical distancing among participants. The event was held from August 6–15 amid the global COVID-19 pandemic and a recent surge in cases due to the Delta variant.
The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally drew an estimated 525,000 people over a 10-day period in the small town of Stugis, in rural Meade County in South Dakota.
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