STDs Surge To Record High
Another indirect result of COVID. Via Guardian:
After briefly dropping in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) then resurged beyond 2019 levels to finish the year at a record high, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Researchers with the CDC said its report, 2020 Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, shows how Covid-19 disrupted in-person healthcare and diverted scarce public health resources away from STIs, which had been on the rise for years.
Ultimately, diverting resources to Covid-19 caused young people, racial minorities and gay and bisexual men to suffer disproportionately from new infections, it said.
The new data provides “the clearest picture yet of [the impact of] Covid-19 on STIs”, said Dr Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV, viral hepatitis, STD and tuberculosis prevention. “Honestly, there’s just much to be done.”
The CDC’s new report covers 2020, the first year of the pandemic and a time defined by lockdowns, social distancing and fear. The new report covers rates of gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis.
Early in 2020, it appeared social distancing might reduce rates of STIs. However, by the end of the year few infections had surged past levels seen in 2019. In just one example, rates of gonorrhea had jumped 10% by year’s end, said Mermin.
Those increased rates were driven by a lack of in-person appointments, delayed health screenings, lapses in health insurance for people who lost jobs and “crumbling public health infrastructure” that diverted contact tracers and testing supplies to Covid-19.
[Guardian: US sexually transmitted infections surged to record high in 2020]
Gonorrhea and syphilis were the two STDs with the biggest increases, per the CDC’s report.
