DENVER — Colorado has reported more than 20 confirmed COVID-19 cases linked to people who attended an annual motorcycle event in Sturgis, South Dakota, earlier this month.
The pandemic was expected to reduce attendance at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, KCNC-TV reported. But the event drew some 462,000 people between Aug. 7 and Aug. 16, down just 7.5% from the previous year.
Some visitors wore masks and practiced social distancing in spite of the large crowds.
State officials in Colorado are now asking those who attended the rally and have symptoms to be tested immediately, and have recommended those without symptoms be tested a week after suspected exposure.
“No one that we went with or knew up there has had any symptoms,” said Kevin Bolser, co-owner of Lucky Horsehoe Customs in Englewood. Bolser said members of his group took special precautions to camp in a remote area and self-quarantine after the event.
At least eight other states have reported coronavirus cases linked to the annual rally, tallying at least 100 people with the virus.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, has defied calls to cancel large gatherings and opposes requirements to wear masks. She welcomed the event, which in previous years brought in about $800 million in tourist spending, according to the state’s Department of Tourism.
Noem has recently stated that she questions whether face masks prevent the spread of the coronavirus, saying there is “very mixed research and the science has not proven what’s effective and what isn’t.”
Noem also welcomed those attending the rally in a tweet before the event started.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
From Sturgis, which is conducting mass testing for its roughly 7,000 residents, to health departments in at least eight states, health officials are trying to track outbreaks from the 10-day rally, which ended on Aug. 16. They face the task of tracking an invisible virus that spread among bar-hoppers and rallygoers, who then traveled to over half the counties in the United States.
An analysis of anonymous cell phone data from Camber Systems, a firm that aggregates cell phone activity for health researchers, found that 61% of all the counties in the U.S. have been visited by someone who attended Sturgis, creating a travel hub that was comparable to a major U.S. city.