New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides evidence that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was a coronavirus superspreader event.
The rally, which occurred in Sturgis, South Dakota from Aug. 7-20, attracted more than 460,000 attendees. News reports showed many attendees did not wear masks and failed to socially distance.
The new CDC paper confirmed that 86 cases of the coronavirus in Minnesota were related to the Sturgis rally. Fifty-one of the cases were among people who had attended the rally. Another 35 were secondary or tertiary cases due to contact with the primary cases in workplaces, homes, and social gatherings. Of the 86 cases, four people were hospitalized, and one died.
The report concluded that its “findings support current recommendations for mask use, physical distancing, [and] reducing the number of attendees at gatherings.”
This squares with other research suggesting that Sturgis was a superspreader event. A Washington Post survey of health departments in 23 states confirmed that 330 virus cases and one death were linked to the event.
