Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Weekly / Vol. 71 / No. 48 December 2, 2022
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
HIV Services and Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic —
United States, 2019–2021
Karen W. Hoover, MD
1
; Weiming Zhu, MD, PhD
1
; Zanetta C. Gant, PhD
1
; Kevin P. Delaney, PhD
1
; Jeffrey Wiener, PhD
1
; Neal Carnes, PhD
1
;
Dominique Thomas, MPA
1
; John Weiser, MD
1
; Ya-Lin A. Huang, PhD
1
; Laura W. Cheever, MD
2
; Athena P. Kourtis, MD, PhD
1
Increasing HIV testing, preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP),
and antiretroviral therapy (ART) are pillars of the federal
Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative, with
a goal of decreasing new HIV infections by 90% by 2030.*
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a national emer-
gency was declared in the United States on March 13, 2020,
resulting in the closure of nonessential businesses and most
nonemergency health care venues; stay-at-home orders also
limited movement within communities (1). As unemploy-
ment increased during the pandemic (2), many persons lost
employer-sponsored health insurance (3). HIV testing and
PrEP prescriptions declined early in the COVID-19 pandemic
(4–6); however, the full impact of the pandemic on use of
HIV prevention and care services and HIV outcomes is not
known. To assess changes in these measures during 2019–2021,
quarterly data from two large U.S. commercial laboratories,
the IQVIA Real World Data — Longitudinal Prescription
Database (IQVIA),
†
and the National HIV Surveillance System
(NHSS)
§
were analyzed. During quarter 1 (Q1)
¶
2020, a total
of 2,471,614 HIV tests were performed, 190,955 persons
were prescribed PrEP, and 8,438 persons received a diagnosis
of HIV infection. Decreases were observed during quarter 2
(Q2), with 1,682,578 HIV tests performed (32% decrease),
179,280 persons prescribed PrEP (6% decrease), and
6,228 persons receiving an HIV diagnosis (26% decrease).
Partial rebounds were observed during quarter 3 (Q3), with
2,325,554 HIV tests performed, 184,320 persons prescribed
* https://www.hiv.gov/federal-response/ending-the-hiv-epidemic/overview
†
https://www.iqvia.com/locations/belgium/library/fact-sheets/
real-world-longitudinal-prescription-data
§
The study period for analyses using NHSS data was January 2019–December 2020.
¶
Quarters were defined as Q1 (January 1–March 31), Q2 (April 1–June 30),
Q3 (July 1–September 30), and Q4 (October 1–December 31).
PrEP, and 7,905 persons receiving an HIV diagnosis. The pro-
portion of persons linked to HIV care, the number who were
prescribed ART, and proportion with a suppressed viral load
test (<200 copies of HIV RNA per mL) among those tested
were stable during the study period. During public health
emergencies, delivery of HIV services outside of traditional
clinical settings or that use nonclinical delivery models are
needed to facilitate access to HIV testing, ART, and PrEP, as
well as to support adherence to ART and PrEP medications.
INSIDE
1511 Appliances Used by Consumers to Prepare Frozen
Stued Chicken Products — United States,
May–July 2022
1517 Outbreak of Burkholderia stabilis Infections
Associated with Contaminated Nonsterile,
Multiuse Ultrasound Gel — 10 States,
May–September 2021
1522 SARS-CoV-2 Serology and Self-Reported Infection
Among Adults — National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey, United States,
August 2021–May 2022
1526 Eectiveness of Bivalent mRNA Vaccines in
Preventing Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection —
Increasing Community Access to Testing Program,
United States, September–November 2022
1531 Paxlovid Associated with Decreased Hospitalization
Rate Among Adults with COVID-19 — United States,
April–September 2022
1539 QuickStats
Continuing Education examination available at
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_continuingEducation.html
