coronavirus

Car sales expected to ramp up significantly in 2021 following bust amid coronavirus

By Matthew A. Garcia 1 year ago
Car lot

Car sales are on the upswing.


Alan Schein Photography/Getty Images
For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO website.

Last year was not a great year for automakers. Production halted and sales plummeted. And although the pandemic continues to rage amid vaccines rolling out, a new forecast shows brighter days in 2021 for carmakers. TrueCar released its 2021 forecast on Thursday and the firm’s analysts believe we’ll see 16 million cars sold this year.

The figure includes both retail and fleet sales for the total number, and it marks a substantial uptick from 2020 numbers. Last year, new cars sales dropped significantly, with a total of 14.6 million cars sold. To put that into perspective, it was the worst year for carmakers since 2012, when Americans scooped up 14.4 million new cars in the shadows of the Great Recession. Throughout the

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Sturgis Motorcycle Rally In South Dakota Caused Covid-19 Coronavirus Outbreak In Minnesota

By Jaime E. Love 2 years ago

Minnesota did not have a huge motorcycle rally from August 7 to 16. No, that was Sturgis, South Dakota. But what happens in South Dakota doesn’t necessarily stay in South Dakota.

In fact, a study published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) clearly showed that it didn’t and how one state can eventually affect other states when it comes to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. That’s because States aren’t completely separate like Kanye West fans and Taylor Swift fans. Instead, states are quite interconnected in many different ways. People cross state boundaries to do things like go to work, attend school, visit friends, and eat cheese. The study found

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Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have helped spread coronavirus across Midwest

By Jaime E. Love 2 years ago
Motorcyclists ride down Main Street during the 80th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally on 7 August 2020 in Sturgis, South Dakota (Getty)
Motorcyclists ride down Main Street during the 80th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally on 7 August 2020 in Sturgis, South Dakota (Getty)

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota in mid-August may have directly led to a spike in cases of Covid-19 across five states.

More than 330 coronavirus cases and one death were directly linked to the rally as of mid-September, according to a Washington Post survey of health departments in 23 states that provided information.

That number likely represents just the tip of the iceberg, according to experts.

Contact tracing often doesn’t capture the source of infection, and asymptomatic spread goes unnoticed.

Within weeks of the Sturgis rally, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Montana were leading the surge in new coronavirus cases.

The Dakotas saw case numbers and rates of hospitalisation rise enormously throughout September, and into October.

It may never be confirmed how many cases stemmed

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How the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have spread coronavirus across the Upper Midwest

By Jaime E. Love 2 years ago

A lifelong motorcycle enthusiast, the 50-year-old construction worker and father of five had been determined to go to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a holy grail for bikers. Even when his girlfriend, Angie Balcom, decided to stay back because she was worried about being around so many people during a pandemic, Cervantes was adamant about going.

“I don’t think there was nothing that was going to stop me,” he said.

Back home, Cervantes took Tylenol for his throat and went to bed early. But he woke up the next morning coughing so hard he struggled to catch his breath. Over the next few days, the pain in his chest made him fear that his heart might stop, and a test later confirmed he had the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19. He was admitted to the hospital 11 days later, on Aug. 27. Soon, his girlfriend and his

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