“seems incongruous, being a “retirement” area”
Well, older people have sex too, and since they don’t have to worry about getting pregnant, I imagine many of them skip all precautions that younger folks might take...
About my question regarding "The Villages" having high STD rates, enough people asked such that I figured I had to do some research. Here are best explanations I found. It seems its mostly fake news (although its not close to zero). Its interesting The Villages themselves are addressing this rumor. Apparantly this rumor has been spread far and wide, which in my colleague's defense, is why he said it. But I should have checked into it further.
https://www.topretirements.com/blog/health-issues/fact-or-myth-the-villages-is-the-std-capital-of-the-world.html/
https://www.villages-news.com/2019/05/04/villages-101-whats-the-truth-behind-urban-legend-of-stds-in-the-villages/