Caption: H-D SPONSORED EVENTS
As a leader in the motorcycle industry, it is our role to set a responsible example and to protect our staff, our riders and our communities. For 2021, we will make every effort to participate in events and will rely on local health guidelines to inform our participation. We encourage you to continue to get out and ride and, to experience the spectacular routes and scenic roads this country has to offer.
The illustration above is from the Covid-19 Response link on the Harley-Davidson website (click to enlarge image posted on my blog below):
I came across this link when I did a web search for Harley Covid.
The main Harley-Davidson website doesn’t make it easy to find anything about Covid. In fact you have to scroll down to the very bottom of the page to find a link to Covid-19 response (click to enlarge image I posted on my blog):
Emphasis added
Follows is the video that comes up when you click this on the Covid-19 Response link of the Harley-Davidson website:
The message of the 1:22 min. video is basically that the winds have changed, whatever that means about Covid, but the virus be damned you should be free to Harely-party on.
At least at Lollapalooza attendees were required to be vaccinated. This is from “Sturgis Motorbike Rally Revs Back Bigger, Despite Virus Variant” in HuffPost:
COVID-19 vaccines provide hope the rally won’t set off virus spread, but it’s not clear how many in the Sturgis crowd have received a shot. Unlike events like Lollapalooza that required attendees to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, precautions at Sturgis are minimal and optional. The biggest step the city has taken was to allow rallygoers to drink on public property, reasoning it will spread the bacchanalia into the open air.
Only about 46% of adults in the county that hosts Sturgis are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, compared with 60.6% nationwide. Vaccination rates were similarly low in the five counties where most 2020 rallygoers hailed from, according to an analysis of cellphone data from the Center for New Data. Only one — Maricopa County, Arizona — has cracked 50%. Campbell County in Wyoming, has the lowest rate, at just 27%.
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I can only guess at what the rates of vaccination will be among those who participate in the Sturgis rally as compared to the general population.
I hate to stereotype Harley riders. I have a very liberal friend who rides a Harley. I once had a Honda 150 which with a tailwind would do 70 mph. I also rode a friend’s Harley, the old fashion “hog” motorcycle cops used to ride, on two occasions. I have to say while the power and thundering sound was impressive and thrilling when I hit 100 mph and the front started to vibrate it scared the shit out of me and I immediately slowed down.
Consider this: ‘Screw COVID, I went to Sturgis': Motorcycle rally draws thousands” from last year.
I don’t want to stereotype Harley riders but common wisdom suggests that many of them support Trump. Consider this Political article from May 2020:
Trump Is Feuding With Harley-Davidson. Bikers Love Him Anyway. — The company’s anniversary celebration was a window into how biker culture sees the president.
Also from The Guardian in July 2019:
'He's their man': why do bikers love Trump so much? At New Hampshire’s Laconia Motorcycle Week, the language is foul, the wardrobe is leather, and it is among these holdout rebels that Trump has found support
Between the “screw Covid” attitude of some Harley riders and the likelihood that many of them think Trump shares this belief I venture a guess that those who go to Sturgis will have a vaccination rate considerably lower than the national average.
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