100+ Cases Of COVID-19 Linked Back To Recent Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (Updated)

Update: August, 28th, 2020 11:12 AM:

Trapt frontman Chris Taylor Brown has since responded to stories of the outbreak from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which his band performed at. You can see that interaction on Twitter below:

Original Story:

According to various news reports, including cbsnews.com and more, over 100 cases of COVID-19 in South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Washington have already been linked back to the recent Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD. With an estimated attendance exceeding hundreds of thousands of attendees, that number of confirmed cases is expected to continue to rise as more contact tracing and testing is done.

AP report that the city of Sturgis is now conducting mass testing for its 7,000 residents. Prior to the event, which took place earlier this month, the Sturgis, SD city council opted to modify select aspects of the festival and set guidelines in place regarding PPE and social distancing for staff, business owners and vendors. Said restrictions were not put in place for attendees who took part in the festivities, which among other things included live sets from the likes of Smash Mouth, Trapt, Buckcherry, Drowning Pool and more.

Smash Mouth themselves have been receiving hate mail (see below) for their performance at the rally. The band’s frontman Steve Harwell was heard commenting during their set “Now we’re all here together tonight. And we’re being human once again. Fuck that COVID shit.”

Trapt, who performed the same night as Smash Mouth with a much disputed crowd turnout, disputed that any outbreak would take place following their performance, tweeting the following to an angry Twitter user in the days after their performance: