  The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that took place from August 7-16 was one of the
largest public gatherings since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. Over
460,000 visitors from across the United States travelled to Sturgis, South
Dakota to attend the ten day event. Using anonymous cell phone tracking data we
identify the home counties of visitors to the rally and examine the impact of
the rally on the spread of COVID-19. Our baseline estimate suggests a one
standard deviation increase in Sturgis attendance increased COVID-19 case
growth by 1.1pp in the weeks after the rally.
