We used to think Woodstock was a huge deal with its 400,000 people who showed up for its three-day music festival in 1969.
Well, an estimated 460,000 showed up for an annual motorcycle festival last summer at a little city in western South Dakota — during a pandemic.
This year, they’re expecting 700,000 bikers in Sturgis, and the pandemic isn’t over. In fact, it’s quite possible the event will contribute to its resurgence as attendees leave South Dakota next week and return to their homes around the country.
The annual rally dates back to the days before World War II and transforms Sturgis into the largest city in South Dakota, a state with a population of less than 900,000. Ordinarily, the population of the city is less than 7,000. In fact, if it weren’t for bikers and Interstate 90 (which passes through the city on the way to Montana), Sturgis might have dried up and blown away by now.
I’m not sure I can even comprehend how such a small city can accommodate the needs of 700,000 visitors. Even if you bring Rapid City, at 76,000 the largest metropolis in that part of the country into it, you’ve still got nearly nine bikers for every man, woman and child in the two cities.
If you look at pictures from the rally, you don’t see very many masks. And if 700,000 visitors were to practice social distancing, they’d be spread out as far off as Sioux Falls on the other side of the state. Nearly 400 miles away.
Don’t get me wrong. I doubt that I would try to shut down something like Sturgis for the pandemic. It may be stupid for people to run the risk of attending things like this, but I imagine it’s their risk to run. I feel for the people who live there and have no say in the matter, but I imagine I would feel for the people of Sturgis even if there was no rally at all.
Still, a survey done earlier this year said 60 percent of the people of Sturgis wished the event could be cancelled for this year.
But that’s not the real problem. The real problem is that if there are 700,000 motorcyclists in Sturgis this week, it would be a surprise if even 70 of them live in Sturgis year-round. That means hundreds of thousands of people who have been exposed to COVID-19 and its Delta Variant will return home to cities and towns all across America, potentially spreading infection as they go.
So it isn’t just the folks are there this week who risk infection.
It’s you and me and all of us. At a time when things should be winding down and getting back to normal, we’ve having a new normal thrust upon us by people who don’t want to play by the rules.
Don’t be too surprised if things get really bad.
Thanks a lot, Sturgis.
MAGA!
You masking hippies must think we value your opinion, or something? 🤣
Also, you seem to have forgotten the flu pandemic raging during Woodstock. It was another China virus, that despite killing millions of older people, didn’t get anyone with half a brain to wear masks or fear their fellow man, or cancel large gatherings. Also a Coronavirus, the media didn’t harp on it 24/7, so people just dealt with it as we have every other flu for thousands of years….as an opportunity to build immunity, and a reminder that God determines our last day.