At least 500,000 people have gathered for this year's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally -- the same 'super-spreader' event that researchers said led to 260,000 COVID-19 cases in 2020.
The Department of Health teamed up with Monument Health, which has a hospital and clinics in Sturgis, to supply free antigen tests, with results given in 15 minutes. They were given to tourism centers and other locations. A worker at City Hall said Wednesday she's gotten 70 calls requesting the tests. There's no tally of the total number of the tests requested by rally participants or distributed so far, says Christina Steele, a city spokesperson.
By Wednesday, Brook Eide, MD, medical director of the emergency department at Monument Health Rapid City, had seen three COVID-19 cases, including two rally participants -- one who needed to be ventilated -- and one local resident. Because many of the rally participants are older, many are also dealing with other health issues, he says, such as heart orFrom Friday to Wednesday, Daly says, the Sturgis emergency department logged 155 visits, compared to 131 for the same 5-day span in 2020 and 182 for the total rally period. In all, the emergency rooms at five facilities, including Sturgis, have logged 325 visits so far, higher than the 5-day total of 306 in 2020.
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