New Orleans Swingers Convention Leads To Covid Cases

The owner of an events company says his four-day swingers' convention in New Orleans held last month has been tied to 41 new coronavirus infections.

The case count from the “Naughty N’awlins” convention, which began on Nov. 11, jumped from five positive tests to 41 confirmed cases in a matter of days, Naughty Events Owner Bob Hannaford wrote in a blog post-Friday. Hannaford wrote that the company has reached out to attendees to urge them to get tested and conducted “very aggressive” contact tracing.

Though most of the cases have been mild or asymptomatic, at least two people had a "tougher time" and were "suffering," he said.

It’s unclear exactly how many of the convention’s 300 attendees have tested positive. Hannaford did not immediately respond to a phone call requesting comment from NBC News.

"You see, we have no idea how many people got tested after our event, nor if anyone tested positive and didn’t tell us," Hannaford wrote. "There could also be people that are positive, but without symptoms, so they never got tested."

Naughty Events issued wristbands that indicated if an individual had shown paperwork to prove they had antibodies and other wristbands that had the date of the individuals' last negative test result. Attendees were also required to socially distance in lines and wear masks in public spaces, Hannaford wrote, but some attendees admitted to being more lax on the last few days of the convention.