81st Sturgis Motorcycle Rally: National media once again trumpeting COVID concerns
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STURGIS, S.D. (BIKER DAD) — Riders are already setting up camp for the 81st Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. “Screw COVID, I went to Sturgis” was a popular t-shirt at last year’s rally. And bikers are standing for the same principle of freedom over fear this year. This as national media, like the Associated Press, once again trumpet COVID concerns. You can see that from this post on their Twitter account. “Crowds of bikers are making their way towards South Dakota’s Black Hills this week, raising fears that COVID-19 infections will be unleashed among the 700,000 people expected to show up at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally” the post says. This comes as cases nationwide are rising again, including the delta variant.
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Bikers are however not among those who fear COVID-19. They point out they are far more likely to die in a crash, or even from a rampant buffalo than from the virus. Last year there were five motorcycle deaths. In comparison, even experts say there was only one COVID-19 death as a result of Sturgis. One widely debunked “study” claimed as many as 250 thousand COVID cases because of Sturgis. Even doctors who didn’t support the rally said it was more like 650 cases and the one death.
81st Sturgis Motorcycle Rally: “Personal responsibility”
Organizers urging “personal responsibility” for COVID during the 81st Sturgis Rally.
“The city does not have any coordinating vaccination opportunities. Masks are not required for the rally either. However, the city is allowing people to carry alcoholic beverages around the downtown area instead of requiring them to stay inside licensed businesses,” South Dakota’s Public Broadcasting System reports.
The mayor of Sturgis spoke with PBS as part of their “In the Moment” series. You can hear the interview here. ““We do have a new thing with open container this year during the Sturgis motorcycle rally. So, there’s the opportunity to not have to sit inside the structures and people can wander around and take in the crowd and the motorcycles and people watch while sitting outside to help create more social distancing,” Mayor Mark Carstensen told PBS.
Riders heading to the rally mostly feel that the COVID concerns are so much “chicken little” just like the alert cops put out about increased “biker gang” activity at this year’s rally.
The rally officially begins Friday. You can get full information here