The village of Cap d’Agde in the South of France, the world’s largest naturist colony, has been connected to almost 150 cases of COVID-19, with many more probable cases on the way.
During an investigation into a cluster of coronvirus cases, medical professionals realized they all stemmed back to the nudist village. CNN reports that during a test of 490 people, 95 came back positive. That’s 1 in 5 people testing positive. There’s still 310 tests awaiting results, so the number of positive cases is estimated to increase.
The village has year-round residents, and visitors can stay in hotels, campgrounds, or vacation rentals. Those who tested positive were a mixture of people staying at the town, and those who were just visiting for the day. According to LGBTQNation, gay naturists account for 10 to 20 percent of its visitors. That works out to at least 3,500 gay vacationers every day in July and August. Gay-friendly nightspots include Le Look Bar; Club Le Palme Re, and Tantra Club Libertine. The region not only gets around 40,000 visitors a day, but it also has several clothing-optional establishments, including restaurants, stores, post offices, and banks, and naked visitors are welcome within most areas.
According to The Sun, France is having a major increase in cases as a whole, reporting almost 4,900 new cases in just one day, the largest number of daily cases since May.
Local authorities have begun telling visitors to cancel or postpone their trips to the village until the outbreak is contained.
