Sturgis COVID-19 Spread Could Impact 60% of Counties in U.S.
The 80th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in the Black Hills hasn't even been done for two weeks and already the fears of some health experts about the impact the 2020 event would have on the spread of COVID-19 appear to be coming true.
The Associated Press is reporting that bikers from this year's rally came to South Dakota from more than 60 percent of counties across America.
That figure, which translates to 1,916 of the 3,141 counties in the nation, comes from cell phone data obtained by Camber Systems, which analyzes mobile phone activity for health researchers.
Already more than 100 positive Coronavirus tests in eight states have been traced back to the rally.
Camber Systems' co-founder, Navin Vember, tells the AP that tracking Sturgis attendees is a major challenge:
'Imagine trying to do contact tracing for the entire city of [Washington], D.C., but you also know that you don't have any distancing, or the distancing is very, very limited, the masking is limited. It all adds up to a very dangerous situation for people all over the place.'
Some health experts fear that the 2020 rally could become a 'superspreader event', and NBC News is reporting that there are local health departments around the country that are suggesting that anyone who came to Sturgis quarantine for two weeks.