A new research paper on the spread of COVID-19 from the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota last month has generated both attention and skepticism.
According to HuffPost, the paper claims that the 10-day event led to nearly 267,000 cases around the country.
But that figure is far higher than the number of cases public health departments have linked directly to the festival, not to mention the state's Republican governor.
They took a snapshot in time, and they did a lot of speculation, did some back-of-the-napkin math, made up some numbers and published them. South Dakota Gov. Kirsti Noem
Nevertheless, several outside scholars say Sturgis significantly increased COVID-19 spread well beyond what official figures suggest.
A working paper published by the Iza Institute of Labor Economics says there is strong evidence that the Sturgis Rally was a superspreader event for COVID-19.