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CDC officials have expressed concern that the extraordinary disruptions the country’s Covid response have caused to HIV-related services have inflicted collateral damage that could take years to undo. It even remains possible that, after decades of hard-fought declines, the national HIV transmission rate has crept up again. “We definitely had a hit from Covid-19,” said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the director of the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. He called 2020 “a lost year” for the HIV fight, even amid the launch of a federal plan called Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S., or EHE. “We don’t really know where HIV transmission is going to land, but it’s something that we obviously are concerned about,” he added. (Ryan, 5/24)

The COVID-19 pandemic severely hampered HIV testing in the U.S., leading to a significant drop-off in the number of diagnosed infections from 2019 to 2020, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. The agency’s annual HIV Surveillance Report found infections decreased 17 percent in 2020, from 36,940 to 30,635. But rather than good news, the numbers likely show an underdiagnosis because of a decrease in testing. It’s possible the number of infections is actually increasing. (Weixel, 5/24)

Despite the amazing scientific advances in HIV care that have taken place since the epidemic began 40 years ago, many people in racially and sexually minoritized communities still fall through the cracks. Some can’t afford care, and others can’t access it because of job or family demands, lack of transportation or documentation, or other barriers. Many face stigma and discrimination from medical providers themselves. I was determined to do everything I could to change the narrative of Nicole’s health-care experiences that day. (Malebranche, 6/1)

Kristine Gebbie, a health policy expert who served as the nation’s first AIDS czar in the early 1990s, died on May 17 in Adelaide, Australia. She was 78. The cause was cancer, her daughter Eileen Gebbie said.After serving as the chief health officer for the states of Oregon and Washington and as a member of two national panels, formed by President Ronald Reagan, seeking to cope with the emergent AIDS epidemic, Dr. Gebbie, a nurse, was recruited by President Bill Clinton in June 1993 to fulfill his campaign promise that he would make the disease a public health priority. (Roberts, 5/23)