[imagesource: Le Cap d’Agde]

In 2018, in the before times, Cap d’Agde beach in France was voted one of CNN’s best nude beaches in the world.

South Africa also cracked a spot, if you want to check out the rankings.

Cap d’Agde is more than just a beach, though.

Sometimes referred to as ‘Naked City’, this is an entire naturist village and resort complete with shops, restaurants, post offices and banks.

Visitors are free to be naked wherever and whenever they like.

In fact, nudity is obligatory on the beach.

Since the pandemic hit, however, it’s not possible to be 100% nude – your mouth and nose should be covered with a mask.

Unfortunately, some naturists have struggled to get behind this idea.

Cap d’Agde is now at the centre of a COVID-19 outbreak, with nearly 150 people testing positive for the disease after staying at or visiting the resort, says CNN, which also names it as the world’s largest nudist resort.

An additional 310 tests are currently being analysed.

Per The Guardian, the outbreak comes after France reported almost 4 900 new COVID-19 cases over a period of 24 hours on Sunday.

According to the Johns Hopkins University map, at the time of writing, the country has 282 414 cases of the virus, with 30 533 deaths.

The health minister, Olivier Veran, says that there are “risks” in the growing infection levels nationwide.

Testing has been ramped up to 700,000 tests a week, Veran added. He emphasised however that the situation was “not the same as it was in February” when the virus began spreading in France. Currently, Covid-19 is circulating four times as much among under 40s as the over 65s.

Another lockdown is not on the agenda at this point, despite the country recording the third highest death toll in Europe, after the UK and Italy.

Nudists have attracted concern in other countries. Late in March, police in the Czech Republic issued a warning following complaints that naturists weren’t wearing masks in the small town of Lázně Bohdaneč, east of Prague.

“Unfortunately, many of the sunbathing citizens were gathered in large groups, and some were not wearing face masks,” a police statement said. “Upon the arrival of the police, everyone agreed to respect the government regulation” [that face shields are compulsory outside the home].

While people might be allowed to gather without clothing in certain areas worldwide, masks are mandatory.

Come to think of it, there wasn’t a mask in sight when that boar stole a nudist’s laptop in Germany…

[sources:cnn&guardian]