As COVID pandemic eases, STD epidemic on the rise
Rates of sexually transmitted diseases rose in San Francisco in 2021, according to a year-end report released by the city's Department of Public Health.Dr.
Stephanie Cohen, a straight ally who is the medical director of DPH's City Clinic in the South of Market neighborhood, told the Bay Area Reporter that "the impact of COVID-19 on sexual health services" led to statistics that were probably lower than the real rate of community infections."In 2021, we fortunately saw an increase in engagement with sexual health services," Cohen said. "With that we did more tests in 2021 and, because of that, we did see more cases.
Paradoxically, that's a good thing. The bump in cases was largely a sign of recovery of testing and screening."But Cohen did acknowledge that the COVID-19 lockdown notwithstanding, STD diagnoses have been on an upward trajectory in the city, state, and nation for the last several years.Jorge Roman, director of clinical services with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, told the B.A.R.
it's difficult to say which was a bigger factor in the rise in the reported rates."As a baseline, unfortunately, there's an uptick," Roman said. "I think it's both.
