Lake of the Ozarks Biker Rally

[Shang]

The boys seem not to be wearing masks, and not practicing much social distancing.

[skuthorp]

Interesting experiment humans are running at present eh?

[Shang]

Interesting experiment humans are running at present eh?

.

Yes. Lake of the Ozarks is mobbed with "Bickerfest"-ers today.
Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near where these idiots are congregating. A
couple were interviewed on national news today: "We'll take our chances with that pandemic..." They don't seen to understand that prevention is a two-way issue.
Look for a spike in flu cases in the near future.

[David G]

One of the organizers was quoted, 'We're not afraid'.

Which would be fine if their mighty manly fearlessness held only consequences for themselves. As it is, they will serve as disease vectors... affecting many innocent victims.

I wonder how many will be 'afraid' once they become infected. Or once a certain % of them die in isolation.

[Rich Jones]

I wonder there will be a surge in used motorcycle sales from the relatives of these idiots who die?

[CK 17]

Minocqua, WI had their Bonney & Clyde biker rally this weekend also. I stayed away From the bars so no pictures of stupidity. It seems like riding the back roads in packs of 20 or so is relatively safe.

driving through town this am I saw about a 15% mask compliance rate.

[Andrew2]

Not only ignoring the plague risk, but some of their helmets look more suitable for kayaking. Reminds me of Maine, where I didn't see a single HD rider with a helmet.

[John Meachen]

Not only ignoring the plague risk, but some of their helmets look more suitable for kayaking. Reminds me of Maine, where I didn't see a single HD rider with a helmet.

The world needs organ donors.....

[RFNK]

You have to laugh. For years they've worn those stupid German army-type helmets with scarves/masks over their faces but now they can't wear the scarves/masks or they'll look `weak'. Okay to look and behave like a moron but we can't have them looking weak!

[Reynard38]

Is there any evidence of a surge caused by the Sturgis Rally? If so the media isn’t mentioning it.

[TomF]

Is there any evidence of a surge caused by the Sturgis Rally? If so the media isn’t mentioning it.

Yeah, we had quite a thread about it actually. There's a research paper published about it which found that Sturgis was associated with about 260K cases in the month after it was held. A minority of which were in the relatively sparsely populated South Dakota (which had its infection rate spike by 200% or so), and the majority among the participants and the counties in other states which where a moderate or high number of the participants live. But counties with a fairly low "seeding" of Sturgis returnees seem not to have had any resultant infections affect their baseline levels too much.

These numbers were gleaned from a review of the anonymized cellphone data of folks in the town, whose phones indicated that they spent a fair amount of time in the locations where Sturgis events were held, or the bars/restaurants where Sturgis attendees congregated. It looked like something between a 20%-25% infection rate among those who attended, which is consistent with the positivity rate (27%) of the residents of the country where Sturgis itself is located.

No, this doesn't look good either. But the infections don't seem to be as associated with outdoor activities - because the viral load is lower thanks to the ventilation. The infections seem to be associated more with time spent indoors breathing the same air.

[UCanoe_2]

The boys seem not to be wearing masks, and not practicing much social distancing.

It's a telephoto lens shot that makes everyone look closer together.

I wonder how many bikers are staying in the Haunted Hotel, and if it will be more haunted after some of them die?

[wizbang 13]

Is there a more vanilla stereotype?
Macho lardies on Harleys.
(my new word...lardies !!!)
mmmmmm...vanilla