Study Links Sturgis Motorcycle Rally To 250K Cases

The Associated Press reports:

Over 400,000 motorcycle enthusiasts gathered for the annual rally from Aug. 7-16, and it was reported that social distancing and mask wearing at some of the events was not observed. The rally was officially linked to hundreds of coronavirus cases across more than 10 states and at least one death.

But the study that relied on cell phone data to track movements estimates that over 250,000 reported coronavirus cases from August 2 to September 2 are due to the rally – nearly 20% of the national cases during that time period, according to Andrew Friedson, one of the authors of the report.

A new study finds the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota was a coronavirus “superpreading event” that cost public health agencies $12.2 billion. Thank GOP @govkristinoem https://t.co/2BcfQaFvz1

— Amy Siskind ?️‍? (@Amy_Siskind) September 8, 2020

New analysis on Covid spread triggered by Sturgis event and implicated in the current epidemic in South Dakota. The estimates in this paper, if confirmed, would place Sturgis as the largest studied super spreading event in U.S. https://t.co/cNiTTs3Ilz

— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) September 8, 2020

According to a new study, which tracked anonymized cellphone data from last month’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, over 250,000 coronavirus cases have now been tied to the 10-day event, one of the largest to be held since the start of the pandemic. https://t.co/yRiMvLSmHp

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) September 8, 2020

A new study says more than 250,000 COVID-19 cases between Aug 2 and Sept 2 came from the Sturgis Rally. That’s approx 19 percent of all U.S. cases added last month. The paper’s authors also concluded that the rally resulted in $12.2B in public health costs https://t.co/RGVFrIQfd6 pic.twitter.com/ZcTOkDJQ8v

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) September 8, 2020