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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK well, it still isn’t clear, and data might still be coming in, but so far, if there is any Sturgis surge in covid cases, it’s not much of one.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I used the case rate from that college near there for a baseline comparison and estimated what the states should be seeing. If there is a Sturgis surge, it looks smaller (or no larger) than the students suffered at Black Hills State U.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Do let us think about this and compare.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Both the rally and the school opening had proles coming in from all over.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>There was a big difference in ages: the late teen/early 20sers on campus vs the pre-geezer biker crowd.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The students were required to wear masks always and everywhere on campus, and they nearly all did.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Doesn’t matter what the biker crowd is required to do, they didn’t (rebels they are (without a cause (ask them what they are rebelling against (they come back with a clever riposte (such as “Whaddya got?))))) In all fairness, if any orders were given to the bikers orally, they might not have heard, for their hearing-aid batteries were tired from the trip. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Way higher population density at the rally than on the campus.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Important difference: students were indoors a good part of the day, bikers were outdoors. I have been to college, seldom had an outdoor lecture. I have been to Sturgis, there is nowhere near enough buildings to put a roof over a quarter of them even in a severe hailstorm. Most of their biker stuff happens outdoors. Seasoned veteran bikers skilled in the art of not dying might have determined to eschew going under any roof for any reason besides using a toilet, and for the men only a specific usually once-a-day use of even that particular appliance. All other activities such as dining, drinking, smoking, fighting, chasing skirts and generally enjoying playing Marlin Brando for a week can (and probably should) be done outdoors at Sturgis. Safer that way, and doesn’t risk having the wooden chairs in the saloon being used to whack over a fellow biker’s head, risking damage to perfectly good bar furnishing and the spillage of beer.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>That looks like it to me like the big differences:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Bikers denser packed<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Students younger<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Bikers mostly outdoors<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Students masked<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK then. From early appearances, the bikers were apparently lower catchers than the students.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Ideas please? I have one that is speculative: Black Hills State U might have a lot of students from rural loosely packed areas (there just aren’t many big cities anywhere around there.) Many of the most active biker clubs are from the city or from the denser burbs, such as around here. Perhaps those in the cities and burbs have already been exposed and moved past the virus? But the rancher youth may be getting up close and personal for the first time since last spring. So perhaps the rancher youth would catch on their very meet and greet, or their first rasslin match in the old indoor haystack after they arrive on campus? <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>