CDC Reports Reduction in HIV Diagnoses During Coronavirus Pandemic

An annual CDC report that measures HIV diagnoses found a disquieting 17% reduction in diagnoses during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. Data from 2020 showed that 30,635 people had been diagnosed with HIV, a steep decline from the 36,940 who were diagnosed in 2019.  

The HIV Surveillance Report surmised that the declining rate of diagnoses was due to interruptions in regular care, hesitancy to access services, and shortages of testing materials due to the coronavirus. Commentary included in the published CDC documents also called attention to the rising rate of telehealth usage that may have led to more self-testing and possible medical errors that resulted in missed diagnoses.  

The report went on to point out that clinicians using telehealth during the first year of the pandemic were less likely to order laboratory tests because of strict social distancing measures that were in place at the time. Recent research has also shown that telehealth attendance is higher than in-person attendance among those infected with HIV. 

Within the CDC report, there were also bleak predictions for health equity. Trends continued to highlight the persistence of HIV in gay or bisexual men and Black and Latino populations.  The sharp reduction in newly diagnosed coronavirus cases also indicates that these groups may have missed a window for early treatment, which could result in worse health outcomes down the road.  

Additionally, another CDC report from last year found that CDC-funded HIV tests conducted across the nation were almost cut in half from 2019 to 2020. 

“We definitely had a hit from Covid-19. We don’t really know where HIV transmission is going to land, but it’s something that we obviously are concerned about,” cited Demetre Daskalakis, MD, director of the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.  

Currently, the best medical defense against HIV infection is pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP. Mass use of PrEP would benefit health equity. Still, as it stands, members of the LGBTQI+ community are often hesitant to ask their physicians about PrEP for fear of stigmatization, among other things. 

At a timely juncture, Gilead recently announced its $24 million grant for an initiative to reduce HIV infections. The program will fund efforts to boost access to testing, decrease the stigma still associated with HIV, and increase health literacy via digital services like telehealth. The federal government also awarded $2.27 billion in grants to expand access to HIV care just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.