Man who attended 'super-spreader' motorcycle rally dies of virus

State health officials in Minnesota confirmed the death, saying the man was in his 60s and had underlying health conditions; he had been hospitalized for several weeks, they said.

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South Dakota has seen sharp increases in coronavirus cases since the rally in Sturgis, a small town north of Rapid City in the western part of the state. And cases linked to the rally have been reported in as many as 12 other states; Minnesota alone has confirmed more than 50 cases traced back to the Sturgis rally, officials said.

Before Aug. 1, Meade County, which includes Sturgis, had reported 71 coronavirus cases over the pandemic’s first six months. By Thursday, the figure had shot up to 324, according to a New York Times database. That includes 26 cases detected when the city of Sturgis held a coronavirus testing event for residents after the rally; 650 people took part.

“A lot of people didn’t want to be tested, but the percent for the people who did come out was about 4%,” said Daniel Ainslie, the city manager.

South Dakota has reported more than 2,000 new cases in the past week, setting single-day records several times, according to the Times database. The South Dakota Department of Health said it had traced 105 cases back to the rally.

Despite the surge of cases, Gov. Kristi Noem has said she has no plans to tighten restrictions in the state or issue a mask order.

“I won’t be changing my recommendations that I can see in the near future,” Noem, a Republican, said at the Sioux Falls Rotary Club on Monday. “I think this is where we expected to be. None of this is a surprise, and we will continue to evaluate and see what the future looks like.”

Another mass event, the South Dakota State Fair, began Thursday in Huron, South Dakota, and is scheduled to last through Labor Day. “Exposure to COVID-19 is an inherent risk in any public location where people are present,” the fair warns on its website, adding, “By visiting the South Dakota State Fairgrounds, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.”

Public health officials across the country have faced challenges in determining whether people who attended large events and later tested positive for the virus contracted it while at those events, including a rally President Donald Trump held in June in Oklahoma and demonstrations in Minneapolis and elsewhere after George Floyd was killed by the police in May.

Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health, said the department asked people who had tested positive for the virus about their activities during the time when they were most likely exposed. He said the department had attributed cases to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally only if there was no other likely source of infection or if it was the “most plausible source.”

The rally in Sturgis was one of the biggest regional events to proceed amid the pandemic, and it drew people from across the country. City officials estimated that about 400,000 people attended the event, significantly more than they had anticipated.

An analysis of anonymized cellphone data collected by Camber Systems, a firm that has aggregated such data for health researchers, found that 61% of all counties in the nation have been visited by someone who attended the rally.

The Sturgis rally, an annual economic boon for the city, took place despite opposition from a majority of the nearly 7,000 residents. Terry Keszler, a city councilman, said he favored postponing the event but worried that the threat of litigation from businesses swayed the council’s vote this summer.

Keszler said he knew of at least 263 positive coronavirus cases involving out-of-state residents who attended the rally.

“No one had to come to the rally,” he said, “but these people chose to come here on their own accord.”