Clinics have stopped or limited testing for HIV, and public health officials overwhelmed by demands to control COVID-19 have shifted staff away from tracking HIV patients.
Although cases are rising in 18 states, the overall number of positive cases in the country are trending downward amid new reports of political pressure on the CDC.
Progress against the virus had already stalled in recent years. Now, health experts and advocates worry the country is at risk of backsliding, with a spike in new HIV infections because people don't know they have the disease, aren't aware if their treatment is working or aren't getting a drug that can prevent them from getting HIV in the first place.
HIV workers contacted by The Associated Press in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas all reported a drop in HIV testing since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. “It kind of felt like I was diagnosed with HIV again because it isolated me from everybody,” Harper said.
Testing at the HIV clinic at Augusta University in Georgia stopped completely for two weeks early on, said Raven Wells, the clinic's community outreach coordinator. Tests are now conducted by appointment “instead of just driving around trying to contact as many people as you can,” Wells said.
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