Daytona Beach prepares for tens of thousands of bikers to ride into town

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, tens of thousands of motorcyclists will descend upon Daytona Beach, Florida for town’s annual Bike Week occasion. 

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The metropolis has reached an settlement with native bars for 60% indoor capability in return for permits crucial for short-term outside gross sales and leisure. 

“I’m grateful to be open for Bike Week, grateful that the city allowed the vendors and the full Bike Week thing,” stated Bobby Honeycutt, proprietor of Froggy’s Saloon, instructed The Daytona Beach News-Journal because the 10-day occasion started Friday. The bar is proscribed to 102 clients inside, however is serving from tubs and bars exterior.

The Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the occasion, estimates 300,000 to 400,000 motorcyclists will attend. It sometimes attracts 500,000.

“We know it’s likely to be less just because of COVID concerns, as well as many still struggling to make ends meet due to loss of income from COVID,” stated Janet Kersey, the chamber’s government vp and chief working officer.

Sam Acquaro is attending his forty sixth straight Bike Week, regardless that he believes his son caught the virus ultimately yr’s, which occurred simply because the pandemic started spreading across the nation and world. He is staying outside.

“It really attacked him, and he had to have caught that here,” he stated. “So I haven’t been in a restaurant since.”

At John’s Rock N Ride memento retailer, proprietor Johnny Sanchez was promoting much more $3 beers than the designer masks he provided for $7. Almost nobody is sporting them.

“As far as masks are concerned, they are paying little attention to that,” Sanchez stated, with a shrug. “It’s just the way it is. What can you do?”

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While the occasion will proceed as deliberate, metropolis officers are hoping to keep away from a coronavirus outbreak comparable to an incident which occurred at a Sturgis, South Dakota motorbike rally in August.

About 19 % of 1.4 million new coronavirus instances within the U.S. between Aug. 2 and Sept. 2 had been linked again to the motorbike occasion, in accordance to according to researchers from San Diego State University’s Center for Health Economics & Policy Studies. That’s greater than 266,000 coronavirus instances attributed to the 10-day occasion, which greater than 460,000 individuals attended regardless of fears it may grow to be a so-called super-spreader occasion.

“We conclude that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion,” the researchers wrote in a paper. “This is enough to have paid each of the estimated 462,182 rally attendees $26,553.64 not to attend.”

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Bike Week comes as well being officers expect a surge in journey to the state as school college students from throughout the nation hit the seashore for spring break.

Health consultants have additionally urged Americans to stay vigilant as some states begin to roll again coronavirus restrictions.

Several variants of the COVID-19 virus have been recognized throughout the United States, together with a new variant in New York – which Dr. Anthony Fauci stated is spreading “efficiently” by way of the state – as well as to the already-documented South Africa and United Kingdom variants.

At the identical time, Texas and Mississippi introduced Wednesday that they had been removing mask mandates and lifting different restrictions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that greater than 90.3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered as of Sunday. The state of Florida accounted for over 5.9 million of these doses administered. 

Volusia County, the place Daytona Beach is positioned, reported a complete of 34,583 instances as of Sunday, together with 576 nonresidents, in accordance to the latest data from Florida’s Department of Health. There are at the moment 1,793 individuals hospitalized within the county and 677 associated deaths. 

Fox News’ Peter Aiken, Evie Fordham, and the Associated Press contributed to this report