This from the AP, “Sturgis is on. The message has been broadcast across social media as South Dakota, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, braces to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. More than 250,000 people are expected to rumble through western South Dakota….The Aug. 7 to 16 event, which could be the biggest anywhere so far during the pandemic, will offer businesses that depend on the rally a chance to make up for losses caused by the coronavirus. But for many in Sturgis, a city of about 7,000, the brimming bars and bacchanalia will not be welcome during a pandemic.”
In the Star Tribune, Christopher Snowbeck writes: Union workers and a DFL lawmaker are calling on HealthPartners to reopen its clinic in Cedar-Riverside, a Minneapolis neighborhood that’s been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. … The permanent shutdown, which followed a temporary closing this spring because of COVID-19, was surprising given the coronavirus spread and also troubling considering the need for health care among immigrants from Somalia and Ethiopia who live nearby, said DFL Rep. Mohamud Noor, who represents the neighborhood.”
At MPR, John Enger says, “If you live near red pine trees — and in much of Minnesota, chances are you do — you may have noticed some dead, brown patches in the upper branches this summer. They’re proof of a moth outbreak the likes of which the state hasn’t seen in more than 20 years. Red pine shoot moths are usually pretty rare. Rachael Nicoll is a forest health specialist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — and before this summer, she’d never seen a mature one in the wild. Now she says, three-quarters of all the red pines in her area, north of Brainerd, are infested.”
For Bloomberg, Alister Bull writes, “The surging U.S. savings rate means the country can afford to support Americans laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic, while a ‘hard’ lockdown could deliver a faster economic recovery, a senior Federal Reserve official said on Sunday. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari told CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ that Americans are saving more because they aren’t going out as much during the pandemic, and as a result there would be less need to borrow from abroad to finance additional fiscal aid. … Kashkari said that the path of the economy would hinge on success in getting the pandemic under control, and suggested that while very unpopular, a stringent economic lockdown might be the lesser of two evils to more quickly restore growth and hiring, rather than waiting for the eventual arrival of a vaccine.”
In the Pioneer Press, Katrina Pross writes: “In less than a week, census takers will begin knocking on local doors to ensure Minnesotans complete the 2020 census. The census occurs once every 10 years, however protocols and timelines had to be changed this year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. … For those who have still not completed the census form, workers will begin knocking on doors in Minneapolis on Aug. 6, and throughout the rest of the state starting on Aug. 11, but with some new guidelines.”
For WEAU-TV in Wisconsin, Katrina Henning reports, “The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is providing a new update on where Wisconsin stands with COVID-19. They are reporting 922 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, for a total of 54,924. There has been one new death, bringing Wisconsin’s total up to 948. 80% of all cases have recovered, or 43,964. 904,666 people have tested negative for the virus. Eau Claire County is reporting an increase of 18 cases on Sunday, bringing the county’s total above 500.”
A WCCO-TV story says, “The Minnesota State Patrol says a woman has died after driving through a construction zone and into a hole in the road. … Officials say 51-year-old Michelle Burwell of Northfield died. The State Patrol says she was not wearing a seat belt and had been drinking before the accident.”
In the Star Tribune, Matt McKinney says, “The shift to clean energy promises a major change to the St. Croix River Valley later this decade when Xcel Energy’s coal-fired Allen S. King Power Plant in Oak Park Heights shuts down, potentially in 2028 — a closure that would open a large tract of land with nearly a mile of riverfront for new uses. It’s not immediately clear what could end up on the site after the plant closes. … The 170-acre site, including its 4,500 feet of riverfront, falls within the protections of the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.”
It will be remarkable if the Sturgis 2020 week of mayhem does not result in a Covid hotspot, especially as SD’s governor proudly has her Trumpite blinders on and there are apparently no statewide public health orders in place acknowledging the pandemic. Social distancing is literally impossible, not that many attendees would heed such an unconstitutional infringement on their Right to be Typhoid Mary in any event. Stay in your bunkers if you can, Sturgis residents, and best of luck…
Early August Schedule:
1. Get on Bike (trailer it for all the old farts) head to Sturgis.
2. Contract Virus, but remain asymptomatic.
3. Ride around Black Hills and surrounding area sightseeing with groups of new friends from across the country, infect a few.
4. Patronize small cafes and bars to “spread the wealth,” virus too.
5. (Optional) Take extra time, head to Yellowstone, bringing virus along of course.
a. Bonus: Stop in Cody WY to visit the newly renovated firearms Museum to look at all the cool guns, spread virus.
b. Double Bonus: Stop to visit Grandma in Sioux Falls on return trip don’t forget the virus.
7. Return home and head to local watering hole to regale the locals with tales from the trip, and spread a little Covid to boot.
This is fantasy of course it will never happen this way.
Should people self quarantine for 14 days after the rally when they return home to wherever they live?
South Dakota is a state that recognizes that all have personal responsibility for their own actions…..How would you even stop the Rally….bikers are coming regardless.
You can do what Minnesota does and try and legislate everything…..but is it really enforceable?
Here’s what you do Minnesota….just ban motorcycles in your state….no motorcycles…no Covind19 carriers…that’s the linear thinking that Waltz and Frey operate on…
Greg Price
Actually its all about avoiding responsibility. That’s what the Right means when they say freedom. Its Freedom from Responsibility. Wearing a mask protects others if you have the virus but are asymptomatic. So not wearing a mask and claiming its your right, is really absolving yourself of the responsibility of spreading the disease to others. For decades the Right has been looking for new ways to justify their selfishness. This is just more of the same.
How would you even stop the rally? You act as though there are no organizers of the event and no state and local government in SD.
The first step was for the Sturgis!! 2020 organizers (to the extent they exist) to have made public announcements two months ago that, because of the ongoing pandemic, the rally wasn’t possible this year, and encourage bikers not to waste their time and money coming. The bars won’t be open; the knick-knack booths won’t be up, there won’t be any bands, it’s not happening this year, etc. That message would be seconded by state and local SD government and national and local media.
The state (assuming that, as you say, some [irresponsible] rightwing/libertarian “bikers will be coming” despite the attempt to protect public health in 2020) would then have state patrol resources/manpower deployed around Sturgis and environs the week of the (cancelled) rally, whereby bikers entering the town would be stopped and told there is no loitering this year, thanks for visiting, but there’s no, um, “rally”. As they were told for months beforehand and why didn’t they listen? You can’t take one year off, for God’s sake?
Government is not actually supposed to be ineffective in combating a pandemic, despite what “conserva-tarian” America may think.
And as for SD celebrating (and relying on) “personal responsibility”, if the Rally-ers did that, they would have the sense not to attend such an event during a dangerous pandemic; but the reality of the situation (“250,000 set to attend”) proves otherwise, unfortunately. I guess you mean that bikers get to decide if they will run a high risk of contracting (and then spreading) the virus, as Mr Tobias illustrates. But (as I said before) that’s simply “My Right to be Typhoid Mary!”, and that really isn’t a recognized “right” in any civilized nation. That’s a “right” in failed states, such as Somalia..