Sturgis Study Disproved, But it Could Have Been True, Which is Why the MSM Needed to Run With it.9/15/2020  Sturgis, SD -- A study, which hit the Internet a couple weeks ago, labeled the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally as a COVID-19 "super spreader" that was responsible for 260,000+ positive cases. The study used cell-phone location data of the rally's attendees and tracked them back to their states of origin and then guesstimated the impact of the rally on the overall spread of COVID-19. The study's authors, Dhaval M. Dave, Andrew I. Friedson, Drew McNichols, and Joseph J. Sabia, concluded that "the Sturgis motorcycle rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion." But there's a small issue; the study has has proven to be little more than nonsensical. The numbers provided, including the healthcare costs asserted, are mostly conjecture and the article didn't age well as it was later shown that the true "fallout", is significantly lower than the 260,000+ people the study "guesstimated". According to South Dakota health officials, and later published by the Washington Post, the real impact of Sturgis on COVID was much smaller. 124 new cases in the state—including one fatal case—were directly linked to the rally. Overall, COVID-19 cases linked to the Sturgis rally were reported in 11 states...to a tune of at least 260 new cases So, as reality catches up with the hysteria, it seems the true depth of the "super-spreading" Sturgis rally is a mere 0.1% of what was initially asserted in the study which was unapologetically promulgated by numerous infotainment MSM news outlets. We reached out to Kaiser Health News, who released one story on the initial study, for a response. "Like all studies, there is always a margin for error. While we agree that a 99.9% inaccuracy rating for a study like this is fairly significant, the potential fallout from a "super-spreader" was far too momentous for us to ignore," said Shirley Anderson, a Public Relations representative we spoke with. "These are highly volatile times, politically, and with the kind of support Donald Trump garnered by the attendees at the Sturgis rally, we couldn't simply sit back and let this kind of dishonesty, ignorance, and blatant disregard for public health go unchecked." When pressed on whether the Kaiser Health News will run an update to their initial story or follow up with a story that shows the new data, Anderson responded, "Though the initial study has been shown to be slightly exaggerated, what we want people to focus on is the reality that it could have been true. We want people to understand that the Government mandated lock-downs are in the best interest of the safety and public health of all Americans and we can not tolerate the complete disregard of these safety precautions, regardless if the evidence shows these events to be non-factors in the spread of COVID-19. So, even though this event turned out to be benign, for the most part, what it could have been is a catastrophe on a scale we have never seen before. And courageous journalistic outlets like ours have the responsibility to hold President Trump accountable for his blatant disregard for truth, science, and the health and well-being of American people.
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