Coronavirus Hospitalizations Have More Than Tripled In South Dakota After Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - Forbes

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Topline

Coronavirus records are being broken on a near-daily basis in South Dakota, which is now dealing with its worst confirmed outbreak since the pandemic started—just weeks after the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally drew hundreds of thousands to the largely rural state.

Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally To Be Held Amid Coronavirus Pandemic — People sit at the outdoor bars at the Full Throttle Saloon during the 80th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle ... [+] Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota on Aug. 9, 2020. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)
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Key Facts

There are 216 patients hospitalized for coronavirus in South Dakota, the state reported Sunday—a record high at any point throughout the pandemic.

That’s more than triple the amount, 66, that were hospitalized when the Sturgis rally ended on Aug. 16, while other major stats have also continued to climb.

More than 365,000 people reportedly attended the 10-day rally in Sturgis, a number that is more than 40% of the state’s normal population.

South Dakota has no coronavirus restrictions in place, and does not have any public mask-wearing mandates.

New cases reached a record high of 579 on Saturday, marking the third time in the past week that a new case record was set; new cases declined to 412 on Sunday, but drops in new cases reported are typical on Sundays.

On Thursday, the state tied its daily death record with eight confirmed coronavirus fatalities, matching the record that was set just the week before.

Key Background

Sturgis was one of the biggest, and possibly the single biggest, gatherings of people in the world since the pandemic started. Photos of the event showed many people gathering tightly in local businesses, with few masks in sight. A jarring study published in the IZA Institute of Labor Economics claimed that up to 250,000 coronavirus infections might have come from the motorcycle rally. Experts have criticized that number as an “absolute worst-case scenario,” while acknowledging that Sturgis likely has led to an increase in infections.

What To Watch For

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has said she has no intention of putting any restrictions in place despite the record spread in the state. On Thursday, she responded to MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow noting the state had the highest per-capita rate of hospitalizations in the U.S. by telling Maddow to “stop spreading fear.”

Big Number

204,566. That’s how many coronavirus deaths have been confirmed in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. Of those, 218 deaths have been confirmed so far in South Dakota, but a rise in deaths tends to lag behind increases in cases and hospitalizations.

Tangent

The spike in South Dakota has been particularly striking, but cases are also on the rise across many states in the Midwest. States like Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota have all recently reported new records for daily case increases.