Bad News: STD Rates are Dropping

[GooooMarquette]

People Are Still Having Sex. So Why Are S.T.D. Rates Dropping?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/health/covid-std-testing.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

For the first time in years, rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, which had been on track in 2020 to hit record highs in the United States, have taken an abrupt downturn.

This should be good news. The coronavirus pandemic has certainly kept more people away from bars, night clubs and large parties, reducing opportunities for unsafe sex, studies show.

But the drop is more likely a harbinger of bad news, experts in reproductive and sexual health believe. They say the pandemic has seriously hindered efforts to mitigate sexually transmitted infections that can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility and even blindness and death in newborns. Rather than showing sexually transmitted diseases are on the run, the upbeat numbers likely signal instead that they are now going largely undetected.

In communities across the country, contact tracers for gonorrhea and syphilis, which had already been severely understaffed, have been diverted to Covid-19 cases.

[tower912]

No casual sex?   Everything has to be planned.

[Jockey]

50% of adults 18 - 30 live at home. Teenagers date less than they ever have.

They're probably not having enough sex to get STDs.

[mu_hilltopper]

That's a really bizarre conclusion.  Rates are going down, but that just means they are going undetected?    Are they living under a rock?   

For the most part, bars are dead.   Music acts are halted.  Socialization is way down.  One can assume that dating is way down.  All of which .. would lead to a massive drop in sexual activity (amongst those who are not living together already.)

If it quacks like a duck..

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

If you read the article, it shows why they came to the conclusion that they did.

"One reason that public health officials believe that the drop reflects test shortages and limited clinic access rather than less sexual activity is that the rates of decrease are more pronounced in gonorrhea and chlamydia, for which the test supplies have been affected, rather than in syphilis and H.I.V., which are detected through blood tests."

[ZiggysFryBoy]

That's a really bizarre conclusion.  Rates are going down, but that just means they are going undetected?    Are they living under a rock?   

For the most part, bars are dead.   Music acts are halted.  Socialization is way down.  One can assume that dating is way down.  All of which .. would lead to a massive drop in sexual activity (amongst those who are not living together already.)

If it quacks like a duck..

Good time to start an only fans, mu scoop version, ainal?

[BrewCity83]

50% of adults 18 - 30 live at home. Teenagers date less than they ever have.

They're probably not having enough sex to get STDs.

This.  And the sex that we're all having is more likely more monogamous than in the pre-COVID days.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

This.  And the sex that we're all having is more likely more monogamous than in the pre-COVID days.

Sheet, jockey had to close the swinger club he owned.

[GooooMarquette]

This.  And the sex that we're all having is more likely more monogamous than in the pre-COVID days.

Probably so. The Netherlands even formally recommended this - suggesting that uncommitted single people pair off with one partner for the duration of the pandemic, to minimize spread.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52685773

[Jockey]

Sheet, jockey had to close the swinger club he owned.

Bush's economic collapse in '08 shut me down (the last economy-destroying guy you supported).

Most times, the women I got together with when I was a young buck had to do with bars. Today's youth are missing out on that.


BTW, when I first saw this thread, I thought it was right in your wheelhouse.