An annual, week-long LGBTQ event in Miami that ended over a week ago has revealed that some of the festival’s attendees have now tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
According to festival organizers, of the tens of thousands of attendees of the festival, several of them have tested positive for the Coronavirus.
“We know there are many places people could have been exposed before and after Winter Party as this virus has developed, but we wanted to make this information public as soon as possible,” Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, which organized the festival, said in a statement Monday. “The health and safety of anyone who participates in any Task Force event is of great importance to us.”
The festival, which was planned and executed before the plethora of event cancellations, even took some precautions during the festival, including giving out 10,000 hand sanitizer bottles and hygiene information to attendees. It remains unclear whether the virus was present in attendees for the duration of the festival, as none experienced symptoms at the time, but health officials warn the virus can still be transmitted before symptoms occur. While the period of incubation for the virus is 1-14 days, it is most commonly around 5 days, according to the World Health Organization.
While the National LGBTQ Task Force did not confirm how many attendees have tested positive for COVID-19 at this time, Carey suggested that those who were in attendance get tested for the virus.
