Last August, 460,000 bikers from all over the country headed to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota’s Black Hills. Many carried Covid-19 back home. Contact tracing was nearly impossible, but at least 649 Covid-19 cases were linked directly to the Sturgis rally, and they passed the virus around to friends and family. One estimate put cumulative infections from the event at 250,000 nationwide, generating public health costs of $12.2 billion.
“Within weeks of the gathering, the Dakotas, along with Wyoming, Minnesota and Montana, were leading the nation in new coronavirus infections per capita. The surge was especially pronounced in North and South Dakota, where cases and hospitalization rates continued their juggernaut rise into October. Experts say they will never be able to determine how many of those cases originated at the 10-day rally, given the failure of state and local health officials to identify and monitor attendees returning home, or to trace chains of transmission after people got sick.”
“More than 330 coronavirus cases and one death were directly linked to the rally as of mid-September, according to a Washington Post survey of health departments in 23 states that provided information. But experts say that tally represents just the tip of the iceberg, since contact tracing often doesn’t capture the source of an infection, and asymptomatic spread goes unnoticed.”
–“How the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have spread coronavirus across the Upper Midwest,” Brittany Shammas and Lena H. Sun, Washington Post
More:
“Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was ‘superspreading event’ that cost public health $12.2 billion: analysis,” J. Edward Moreno, The Hill
“The inevitable fallout from last month’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, an annual event that packed nearly 500,000 people into a small town in South Dakota, is becoming clear, and the emerging picture is grim.
According to a new study, which tracked anonymized cellphone data from the rally, over 250,000 coronavirus cases have now been tied to the 10-day event, one of the largest to be held since the start of the pandemic. It drew motorcycle enthusiasts from around the country, many of whom were seen without face coverings inside crowded bars, restaurants, and other indoor establishments.
The explosion in cases, the study from the Germany-based IZA Institute of Labor Economics finds, is expected to reach $12 billion in public health costs.”
— “Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Is Now Linked to More Than 250,000 Coronavirus Cases,” Inae Oh, Mother Jones
More:
“Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was ‘superspreading event’ that cost public health $12.2 billion: analysis,” J. Edward Moreno, The Hill
“Sturgis Motorcyle Rally linked to more than 265,000 cases of COVID-19 costing $12 billion: report,” Nancy Dillon, NY Daily News
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is back in Washington DC, from June 24th to July 4th, but you won’t find it on the National Mall. It’s gone vitual, like everything else during this pandemic. Here’s the schedule. You can’t go to the food concessions this year, but they’ve promised a gift shop.
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The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is back in Washington DC, June 29th to July 4th and July 7th to July 10th. You’ll find it on the National Mall between Fourth and Seventh streets, north of the National Air and Space Museum. The free festival features Basque culture of the Old World and the Americas (music, dance, craft and foodways), music of California, and the cultural impact of Immigration.
New Orleans has all the urban problems of any American city — crime, poor education, no parking spaces, economic inequality — and it’s still suffering the aftereffects of devastating Hurricane Katrina. But as the Crescent City celebrates Fat Tuesday, technology has solved one age-old problem:
The Airpnp smartphone app directs you to nearby locations where, for a small fee, the business or homeowner will let you use the toilet facilities. Ninety percent of arrests along the French Quarter’s parade routes are for public urination, so it’s not a piddling matter.
More:
“AirPnP, an app helps find Mardi Gras rental restrooms: BBC report,” By Doug MacCash, Times-Picayune
“Inventive startups are changing the way New Orleans celebrates Mardi Gras,” Shannon Sims, Quartz
Top video: “Ain’t No Place to Pee on Mardi Gras Day” by Benny Antin, from the 1997 album Wild Linoleum. Lyrics here.
The internet is just humming about Mosquito Festivals. If you’re just itching to go this summer, there’s only one pesky problem: Which one to go to? The mosquito festival in Texas has some pretty good music, but the one in Russia has a Most Delicious Girl Contest judged by swarms of bloodthirsty insects. There are ‘skeeter celebrations in Oregon, Indiana, Arkansas, Montana, New York State, and Italy. No wonder blood bank deposits are running low.
“Chants of ‘R-A-R-Double E-S-S-E-N-C-E’ reverberated throughout the venue before the music even started and once the percussion kicked in, hands went up and feet started moving. It was a stunning moment of realization at how lucky D.C. audiences are to have this band in their backyard—Rare Essence didn’t just rule the night; the band set the bar for the entire festival.”
— “D.C. at SXSW: The Festival’s First Go-Go Show, Oddisee, and a Big Tribute to J Dilla,” Valerie Paschall, Washington City Paper
More:
“D.C.’s Rare Essence becomes the first go-go band to play at SXSW,” Chris Richards, Washington Post
Related:
“I Ran a DC Showcase at SXSW for Seven Years. Here’s How the Government Did It.” Valerie Paschall, Washingtonian
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Image by Mike Licht (after Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze). Download a copyhere. Creative Commons license. Credit: Mike Licht,
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