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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Motorcycle Rally in a Pandemic? 'We Kind of Knew What Was Going to Happen'
STURGIS, S.D. Albert Aguirre was amped as he and a buddy skimmed across the South Dakota plains, heading to join 460,000 bikers for a motorcycle rally shaping up to be a Woodstock of unmasked, uninhibited coronavirus defiance.
Sit tight Sturgis, Mr. Aguirre, 40, posted on Facebook on Aug. 7 as he snapped a photo of the sun sifting through the clouds. Were almost there!
A month later, back home in the college town of Vermillion, S.D., Mr. Aguirre was so sick he could barely take a shower. He had not been tested but told friends that it had to be Covid-19.
Infectious-disease experts had warned about the dangers of cramming thousands of revelers into the Black Hills of South Dakota at the height of a pandemic. But it was the 80th anniversary of the annual Sturgis rally, and bikers were coming no matter what.
South Dakotas Republican governor, a vocal opponent of lockdowns, gave her blessing, local leaders set aside their misgivings, and thousands of people from every state in the nation rolled down Sturgiss Main Street.
In the aftermath, hundreds of people have gotten sick and Sturgis has become a rumbling symbol of Americas bitter divisions over the coronavirus, even now, as cases continue to surge, surpassing more than 121,000 daily infections on Thursday, and the nations death toll crosses 235,000.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/06/us/sturgis-coronavirus-cases.html
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)I love the part the testing is political.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,868 posts)Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Certainly is no better at all.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,868 posts)Is out?
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)However, it will be for the worse.
The Genealogist
(4,723 posts)Utterly useless. And he cruised to victory.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Useless is one term that fits.
Ponietz
(2,961 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)out of their way, spending time debunking the rally spreading the virus study that came out. These monopolies need to be broken up.
czarjak
(11,266 posts)Maeve
(42,279 posts)And he tends to think the pandemic is overblown, BUT....he also thinks the rally was a really REALLY bad idea this year and stayed far far away from it. He may be a bit of a fool, but he's not an idiot.
tanyev
(42,550 posts)Pluvious
(4,309 posts)omg - it would be a culling of the stupid !