South Dakota has experienced a sharp daily increase Cases of covid-19 after the Sturgis motorcycle rally in Meade County this month. Hundreds of thousands of cyclists descended in the area from August 6 to 15, despite the Delta variant wreaking havoc in the US
On August 4, the date closest to the start of the concentration for which data were available, the been informed 657 active cases. On August 25, the been informed 3,655 active cases. This represents a 456% increase in active cases from before the concentration to two weeks later, according to the state health department.
On August 24, approximately two weeks from the start of the event, South Dakota recorded a weekly positivity rate of 38.8%. The week before the rally (July 30-August 6), the state’s weekly positivity rate was much lower, at 10.38%, according to the health data department. The previous week, from 23 to 30 July, the positivity rate was 6.10%.
The daily case rate increased by 486% from August 6, when 80 new cases were reported, to August 23, when 469 cases were reported.
Meade County, where Sturgis is located, recorded a weekly positivity rate of 34.2% last week, according to the state health department.
About 61% of the state’s population over the age of 12 has been given at least one dose of vaccine, and 55% are completely vaccinated, according to department data. In Meade County, 7,984 people have been vaccinated. With a population of 28,332, that is, approximately 28% of the vaccinated county.
Vaccines are proven safe and effective. Despite this, the Delta variant is still spreading rapidly, and hospitals report that most of their COVID-19 cases are in unvaccinated patients.
However, the national vaccination effort is showing signs of slowing down again. Just over half of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, far from the fleeting “herd immunity” that some expected the country to arrive in late summer.
At the Sturgis rally, vaccines were not needed, Mola Lenghi reported on “CBS This Morning: Saturday.” “We won’t start reviewing the papers. I mean, that’s not really an American way,” said Daniel Ainslie, Sturgis’ municipal manager, who has a population of 7,000.
Last year, the motorcycle rally was scrutinized to welcome half a million cyclists from across the country to what was considered a superspreader event. About three weeks after the start of the 2020 rally, more than 100 cases of COVID-19 connected to the rally were reported in at least eight states, The Associated Press reported, and the number of related cases continued to grow in the following weeks.
Vaccines against COVID-19 were not yet available at that time. Some security measures, such as sidewalk sanitation, were put in place, but no masks were needed, Christina Steele, head of public information for the city of Sturgis, told CBS News by email before the event .
CBS News has contacted representatives from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and the South Dakota Department of Health and is awaiting a response.