Data shows increase in sexually transmitted infections since pandemic began

By Jasmina Alston

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    ATLANTA, Georgia (WANF) — There has been an increase in sexually transmitted infections since the pandemic began, according to healthcare officials.

DeWayne Ford, the AID Atlanta director of HIV prevention services, told Atlanta News First in metro Atlanta most of those rates are from Gonorrhea infections.

Ford said he can’t give just one reason for why infections went up but do say between 2020 and 2021 more people got tested.

“People took their healthcare more seriously and that prompted them to come in for treatment,” Ford said, in regard to the first two years of the pandemic.

Preliminary data from the CDC shows 2.5 million reported cases of Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Syphilis in 2021 nationwide.

According to their data, STD cases kept increasing during year two of the pandemic, with no end in sight.

“The best message is condoms are still there, condoms still protect against HIV and STIs,” Ford said.

The AID Atlanta clinic does offer testing.

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