Impact of COVID-19 on STIs

Key points

The COVID-19 pandemic led to disruptions in STI-related prevention and care activities, reduced STI screening, and redirection of STI program resources. Trends for data collected during the pandemic should be interpreted cautiously.

COVID-19 virus

What to know

Because STIs often do not show symptoms, and screening is necessary for timely diagnosis and treatment, changes in access to sexual health care, as well as disruptions in public health services, can affect the number of infections diagnosed and reported. Consequently, trends for STI surveillance data collected during the pandemic should be interpreted cautiously.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on STI surveillance data was most acute in March and April 2020, when the number of reported STIs rapidly fell during the initial shelter-in-place orders. Case counts began increasing in late-2020, which may have reflected increases in service utilization as health care clinics re-opened and people sought care when available. Increases in diagnosed and reported cases could also reflect higher disease transmission. For example, due to reduced access to care, those with an STI may have had their infections longer, providing more opportunities to transmit infection to their sexual partners. Additionally, following the initial shelter-in-place orders, sexual behaviors like the frequency of new sex partners may have changed, causing STIs to spread in sexual networks.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected trends in diagnosed and reported STIs – resulting in likely underreporting of infections and possibly increased STI transmission. It’s likely that such effects will persist for several more years and we may never know the full impact of the pandemic on STIs. What is clear, however, is that STI prevention and control efforts remain as important as ever.

Resources

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Content Source:
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention; About Division of STD Prevention