Just as many health officials feared, South Dakota’s annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is on its way to further the current health crisis. Cases of the novel coronavirus continue to grow nationwide and with bikers from across the country returning home from the event states are bound to see an increase in local cases. More than 100 COVID-19 cases have been linked to the event so far, the Associated Press reported.
The event brought at least 250,000 individuals, many who attended maskless. According to Camber Systems, which collects and analyzes cellphone data, 61% of counties in the U.S. have been visited by someone who was at Sturgis. Multiple states have already reported cases linked to the 10-day event which began Aug.7.
“Imagine trying to do contact tracing for the entire city of (Washington), D.C., but you also know that you don’t have any distancing, or the distancing is very, very limited, the masking is limited,” Navin Vembar told the AP, co-founder of Camber Systems. “It all adds up to a very dangerous situation for people all over the place. Contact tracing becomes dramatically difficult.” Continue reading.