I need to use JMeter to simulate a test where multiple Azure SignalR Websocket connections open at once and remain connected

I am using the following schema:

health check http request
    If controller (conditioned that server is healthy)
        loop controller
            Simple controller 
                http /negotiate request
            If controller (conditioned that /negotiate is successful)
                Websocket Open Connection "wss"
                WebSocket Protocol Record set to "use existing connection"
                    Data is:
                    {
                        "protocol": "json",
                        "version": 1
                    }

The issue is, as the loop goes on, the previous connection is closed on Azure, which defeats the purpose of the test if only 1 connection is open at a time

Please help