# Aftermath of the Sturgis SD Motorcycle Rally **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [September 2, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616 "2020-09-02T17:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/181 "2021-08-07T13:12:06Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Updating this thread, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has started up again and public health officials again feel **this will be a super-spreader event:** - > > [Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 2021: South Dakota event raises COVID fears](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/08/06/sturgis-motorcycle-rally-2021-south-dakota-event-raises-covid-fears/5520526001/) > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/06/sturgis-motorocycle-rally-covid-superspreader/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/06/sturgis-motorocycle-rally-covid-superspreader/) > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/us/politics/sturgis-motorcycle-rally-covid.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/us/politics/sturgis-motorcycle-rally-covid.html) Every tradition has to start _somewhere_. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/182 "2021-08-07T13:16:38Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Is anyone here going? Not me, personally, but I know a group of eight that are there. All unvaccinated (“muh freedums!”) and all from a Delta hotspot county north of me. Idiots, the lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/183 "2021-08-07T13:31:37Z")
Last March the Burning Man Org announced that the event would be cancelled for the second year, citing there was simply no way to guarantee whether it would be safe in August. Although it has only 70,000 attendees there are a lot of moving parts it it was better to pull the plug early before too much had been committed only to be wasted later on. Several major theme camps had already announced they would be skipping, as early as January. There was great sadness but it’s looking like they made the right call. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/184 "2021-08-07T13:44:33Z")
I think it fair to point out that there are many other gatherings also taking place, Lollapalooza, 100% capacity ballparks. Singling this event out in 2021 is not particularly good reporting IMO. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/185 "2021-08-07T13:49:09Z")
The ballpark thing I get, but to be fair, Lottapalookas required proof of vaccination or negative covid test results. I still wouldn’t have gone, but that’s not nothing. > **[Dr. Arwady Went Undercover at Lollapalooza. Here's What She Says She Saw](https://www.nbcchicago.com/top-videos-home/dr-arwady-went-undercover-at-lollapalooza-heres-what-she-says-she-saw/2579933/)** > > Chicago’s top doctor said she went undercover at Lollapalooza last weekend to see how the festival was enforcing COVID-19 precautions and administering vaccines. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/186 "2021-08-07T13:54:59Z")
> [@Jay\_Z](#): > > I think it fair to point out that there are many other gatherings also taking place, Lollapalooza, 100% capacity ballparks. Singling this event out in 2021 is not particularly good reporting IMO True, but how many of these other events have more than 500,000 attending? The current guess is more than 700,000 this year: > **[Sturgis Rally by the numbers so far](https://www.keloland.com/keloland-com-original/sturgis-rally-by-the-numbers-so-far/)** > > STURGIS, S.D. (KELO) — Sturgis city officials are hearing the talk that the 2021 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally attendance could reach the record levels of the 75th Anniversary in 2015. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/187 "2021-08-07T14:11:29Z")
More than 500,000 would be a weekend of people at ballparks. Then Monday, Tuesday addons etc… I am making the point that the months long lockdown button is much less likely to be pushed at this point. It’s going to be more “you’re on your own.” Yes, there is going to be continued and increased support for businesses and other entities that want to require proof of vaccinations. But full lockdown is a limited resource. So I do take question with the current LOL Sturgis hype, considering what else is going on. I personally have not opened up that much. Don’t need to for work, kids still too young to get vaccinated. I want to keep my kids’ mostly outdoors and masked stuff open as long as reasonably possible. Because we already 100% virtual school for more than a year. I consider virtual school a degrading situation that will continue to decline if we need to go back 100%. People will simply stop caring. There are multiple components to everything going on with the pandemic, and I have always known that certain resources used to combat the pandemic are limited. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/188 "2021-08-07T18:47:42Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Lottapalookas required proof of vaccination or negative covid test results. Seems MLB is doing the same for fans who don’t want to mask up. [That’s been the case for Mariners home games](https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-fully-vaccinated-fans-no-longer-required-to-wear-masks-at-t-mobile) and presumably all the other stadiums. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/189 "2021-08-08T04:23:16Z")
My 30yo nephew, a firefighter/emt, and his new spouse, a hospital nurse who has treated Covid patients, are going to this on their Harleys motoring from Chicago. They’re vaccinated, but it’s bananas to me that they’re going at all. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/190 "2021-08-08T04:56:32Z")
At least it’s Russian Roulette with one chamber loaded instead of four. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/191 "2021-08-08T06:25:34Z")
I don’t see how anybody can determine the effect of this year’s Sturgis. Last year everything was pretty calm and you could watch the cases start to crop up in SD and the surrounding states. Iowa took a particularly bad hit. This year the whole country is a blaze with Delta; Sturgis will be lost in the flood. If WI cases go up (like the Peshtigo Fire), who knows why? ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/192 "2021-08-08T06:57:12Z")
I’m sure it will be a shit show; my boss just attended a family wedding (and they are ALL drinkers of the Trump kool-aid); so far, one week after (at last report, three days ago), at least 23 attendees have been diagnosed. And they themselves are all likely Rally-goers (historically they always have taken the week off to go). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/193 "2021-08-12T02:04:22Z")
How long after Sturgis last year did the Dakotas’ cases explode? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/194 "2021-08-12T02:24:16Z")
About 2 weeks. Almost like clockwork. Here’s the [graph at the NYTimes](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/south-dakota-covid-cases.html). It’s the bump at the end of August/beginning of September. Of course, the really big explosion was at the end of the year, but that happened across the whole country. And a noticeable bump 2 weeks after Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/195 "2021-08-12T02:26:10Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > How long after Sturgis last year did the Dakotas’ cases explode? About three months of steady growth to see the full impact of Sturgis. Delta appears to have a higher effective reproduction number, so it might escalate faster. We’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/196 "2021-08-12T03:35:27Z")
I might end up eating my words, but I have a prediction. Over 0.2% of both South Dakota and North Dakota have already died of Covid. That means a huge % of the population has had Covid. Plus their vaccination rates are not that bad. Depending on how much overlap there is between previously infected and vaccinated people, there may be quite a bit of immunity in the population. Okay, so I’m going out on a limb and predict that cases may rise a week after the rally ends, but deaths won’t surge like they did last year. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/197 "2021-08-12T03:43:56Z")
Does the fact that the new “D” strain, which is much more dangerous and which pretty much wasn’t a factor in last year’s rally, is probably going to infect people there change your calculations? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/198 "2021-08-12T04:46:03Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > At least it’s Russian Roulette with one chamber loaded instead of four. Isn’t that generally how Russian Roulette is played anyway? 1 chamber loaded, the other 5 empty? ---
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/199 "2021-08-12T04:57:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Does the fact that the new “D” strain, which is much more dangerous and which pretty much wasn’t a factor in last year’s rally, is probably going to infect people there change your calculations? I’m assuming the D strain is not much more deadly, just that much more contagious. The vaccine is still pretty strong against hospitalization and death. One thing that’s more sketchy is that I’m also assuming that prior infection does incur some amount of protection against death. Obviously, I could be very wrong about that. So, surge in cases and probably hospitalizations? Yes. Surge in deaths? Not as much as last year. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616/200 "2021-08-12T13:36:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Isn’t that generally how Russian Roulette is played anyway? 1 chamber loaded, the other 5 empty? Uh, yeah. I was implying that the vaccinated relatives have a better chance of escaping harm than the rest of the Sturgis attendees – _they’re_ the ones playing with four loaded cylinders. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aftermath-of-the-sturgis-sd-motorcycle-rally/919616.md?page=11)