Sturgis Rally attendee has COVID-19, may have exposed others at bar, officials warn
A person who visited a bar during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally last week has tested positive for coronavirus, according to the South Dakota Health Department.
The individual was at One Eyed Jack’s Saloon on Main Street in Sturgis from noon to 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 11, the health department said in an Aug. 18 news release. It is now encouraging all individuals who visited the business during that time to monitor their symptoms for 14 days after they visited.
More than 460,000 vehicles came to the rally during the 10-day event, which was an 8% decrease from last year, according to the Associated Press. Most of the people did not take COVID-19 precautions, the AP reported.
“I don’t think anyone saw the photos out of Sturgis and said, ‘That looks safe.’” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said during a press briefing, according to the Washington Post. New Hampshire will hold a similar rally that begins Aug. 22 but face masks will be mandatory, he said.
Some epidemiologists fear the Sturgis event could become a coronavirus super-spreader, McClatchy News reported.
“Any type of mass gathering will be difficult for contact tracers, and it’s going to be more difficult if the people you are trying to trace are mobile,” Amesh Adalja, an infectious-diseases doctor at Johns Hopkins University, told McClatchy News.
Sixty percent of Sturgis residents voted against holding the annual event, CNN reported.
