An annual nudist festival in Oaxaca will go ahead as planned at the end of this month despite Covid-19, say its organizers, who have promised that they will follow all required sanitary protocols.

The Zipolite Nudist Festival — put on by the Mexican Nudists’ Federation — has taken place in the coastal municipality of San Pedro Pochutla for six years on Mexico’s only legal nude beach. The event attracts as many as 8,000 people.

This year, it will run from January 29–February 1.

The festival’s promotional brochure warns visitors that they need to have reservations in a local hotel and will be expected to observe sanitary guidelines, including wearing masks and using sanitizer. It also urges people to avoid coming if they are experiencing sore throat, fever or fatigue and is apparently trying to avoid any gatecrashers augmenting the numbers by urging those who don’t already have plans in place not to go.

“If you don’t yet have flight and hotel reservations, then we invite you to stay at home,” says a message on the festival’s Facebook account, adding that another event is planned for September 17–19.

The publicity about the festival has inspired some negative comments online, with one commenter saying, “This will be chaos. We are already seeing the first cases [of Covid-19] in Zipolite.”

Festival organizers defended their decision to go ahead with the event, saying that the town’s general assembly voted on December 20 to allow it to happen with the understanding that it would not be a massive event and that organizers would make sure visitors comply with health protocols, both on the beach and off.

Municipal officials have made no comment on their decision even though the entire state is currently listed as orange or “high” risk on the national coronavirus stoplight map.

Currently, Oaxaca has accumulated 28,730 cases of the coronavirus and 2,153 deaths from the disease. Of those, the coastal region where this event is to take place has seen 1,459 Covid cases and 143 deaths.

The municipality of San Pedro Pochutla has registered 145 cases and 10 deaths.

Source: El Universal (sp)