What public health precautions (if any) did Smash Mouth take when they performed at Sturgis in August, 2020?
It seems as though covid could've easily been spread.
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Answers ( 1 )
Willie Nelson and my fave band of all time, ZZ Top,** were supposed to play at Sturgis but bowed out due to COVID. According to Smash Mouth's frontman Steve Harwell, “Now we’re all here together tonight. And we’re being human once again. Fuck that Covid shit.” Then, the owner of the amphitheater where the concert took place told Rolling Stone magazine, “We’re requiring that people have face coverings to get into the amphitheater,” he says. “We’re not requiring that they wear them, which is why, if you got photos from Smash Mouth that you didn’t see masks in, that’s ’cause people weren’t wearing them.” (1)
So, pretty much no precautions were taken, at all.
Which is why researchers are able to tie 260,000 cases of COVID back to Sturgis,(2) which will mean 2,600 deaths, give or take. You can not like the conclusion the researchers reached, and if you do, feel free to peer-review it, and keep such research honest. But, given the rise in cases in the Sturgis area, plus the cell phone data gathered, it looks like some pretty solid numbers.
(1) https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sturgis-covid-19-biker-fest-smash-mouth-1043040/
(2) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/08/study-260-000-coronavirus-cases-likely-tied-sturgis-rally/5750587002/
**I have many fave bands. ZZ Top is tied with four or five others for all-time fave. But they are definitely an all-time fave.