STURGIS, S.D. (KELO) — A week after hundreds of thousands of bikers enjoyed the last day of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, mass testing for COVID-19 is underway.
Frontline workers, local business employees, residents, and city staff, like Daniel Tammi, are waiting on test results to find out if they caught the COVID-19 virus at this year’s Sturgis Rally.
Tammi works with the city’s Public Works Department. He says this mass testing event is a good idea.
“I think everybody in town should be tested … just so we know how bad the virus is in town. I want to keep my kids safe. It’s nice to know if we do have the virus or not,” Tammi said.
Monument Health stepped in to perform the testing and get results. The city of Sturgis coordinated the event in conjunction with Monument Health.
“We’ve asked people to go ahead and pre-register so they all have an appointment time and as they come into the parking lot, they check in and they just pull through to one of these drive-thru stations (and) they get their test,” Sturgis Public Information Officer Christina Steele said.
Around 800 people pre-registered. They should all receive their results within 24 hours.
The testing is specifically for people who don’t have symptoms.
“If they are showing signs of sickness, they just need to contact Monument Health right away but with asymptomatic testing, you hopefully are able to flag people who might be carrying the coronavirus and don’t realize it so you can cutdown on that spread,” Steele said.
“If you know that you’re negative then you can be around more people and not worry about infecting somebody else,” Tammi said.
The mass testing event will be going on today, Monday, and Tuesday of next week. It will be happening behind the community center in downtown Sturgis.
Sturgis City Officials say by Thursday or Friday of next week, the city will have results of the mass testing and share it with the public.