https://troytassier.substack.com/p/screw-covid-im-going-to-sturgis
"A metamorphosis occurs each August in Sturgis, SD. The small 7,000 person town
is invaded (peacefully) by a steady stream of Harleys, Indians, and Triumphs
among countless other motorcycle brands. The rumbles of their engines bubbling
at each intersection can be heard throughout the town. It’s the Sturgis
motorcycle rally and Sturgis has grown to a population of around half a million
people – It now contains the same population as Kansas City, MO and Raleigh,
NC.
In the year 2020 public health authorities warned them not to allow it. Kristi
Noem, Governor of South Dakota at the time, ignored them. The mayor threw up
his hands and told the
NY Times, “do you want me to build a wall around
Sturgis or a wall around South Dakota, because that is the only way we could
have stopped it.”
He was right, just like every other year, they rolled in. Concerts and crowded
bars. Hardly a mask in sight. They even sold t-shirts mocking the pandemic. My
kids bought me one off of e-bay as a father’s day joke the next year. “Screw
Covid, I’m going to Sturgis.”
What happened next was predictable. Covid spread. It wasn’t like Las Vegas.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What happens in Sturgis doesn’t stay
there, it spreads everywhere.
In my book I summarized research estimates from the Center for Health Economics
& Policy Studies at San Diego State University. They put the number of cases
connected to Sturgis in the range of 115,000-260,000, or 10 to 20 percent of
all cases in the US at the time. This was just one month after the rally
occurred and it was still spreading. Yesterday a new research study was
published that makes the wave of infection that spread out of Sturgis more
visible."
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Covid: March 12, 2026
https://www.patreon.com/posts/covid-march-12-152830056
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
