New HIV diagnoses in San Francisco continued to decline in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental effect on HIV care, according to the latest epidemiology report from the Department of Public Health.
The new report, released August 30, shows a 22% decline in new HIV cases, from 168 in 2019 to 131 in 2020. This brings the total number of San Franciscans living with HIV to 12,242.
But HIV screening and viral load testing decreased and the proportion of HIV-positive people receiving care and achieving an undetectable viral load fell last year, with an especially dramatic drop in viral suppression among homeless people: only 20% were undetectable. "The data from this annual report shows us that there was a high level of rapid