An America on the Precipice of a COVID-19 Disaster

By: Marcus J. Hopkins, Policy Consultant & Guest Contributor

For those of us who grew up in the 1980s and ‘90s, one of the biggest concerns about having sex was the fear of contracting HIV. But, it wasn’t just having sex we were afraid of, in the beginning – it was pretty much every activity.

In the beginning years, we didn’t really know how it was contracted. Was it airborne? If we didn’t wear masks and essentially biohazard suits in hospital rooms, were we going to get it and end up just like “them” – the “others” who fell victim to the devastation of the AIDS epidemic sweeping across the country and taking no prisoners?

We didn’t know not know how it was spread; we didn’t know how to treat it. Every other week, we heard rumors of a cure; of some expensive treatment in Mexico, or Brazil, or Germany that could cure AIDS, but the U.S. government just didn’t want us to know. Desperate people weren’t given hope; they were given expiration dates.

I was just a kid, growing up in the middle of the HIV epidemic of the 1980s and ‘90s, and, to this day, I remember being terrified of the images we saw on television and in every magazine. Worse still, I remember being pissed off at the thought that our federal government sat back and did virtually nothing; said virtually nothing. Although AIDS was identified in 1981 (at GRID – Gay-Related Immune Deficiency), then-President Ronald Reagan never publicly mentioned the word until a press conference in September 1985, a full four years too late, and many dollars too short.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first made its way to the United States, people who had lived through the AIDS epidemic of the ‘80s and ‘90s began making comparisons between HIV and COVID-19. Those comments were almost immediately shouted down by those who were offended by the comparison, insisting that it made light of people living with HIV. Those of us who saw and commented on the parallels were castigated for our poor taste and lack of empathy.

Photo Source: IBTimes UK

Turns out, we were right.

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the U.S. mirrors that of the HIV epidemic in many ways:

• We were, and still are, plagued (as it were) by uncertainty about how the disease is spread, contained, and treated; 
• A certain segment of Americans is pinning the blame on a vulnerable minority population for “causing” or “creating” the disease, and discriminating and, at times, literally bashing people whom they blame for bringing it here (read: “China Virus” or “Wuhan Flu”);
• We have a White House occupant who is neither willing, nor able to admit the severity of the pandemic, and is focused more on his own venality and “ratings” than on the lives of the Americans he was stupidly elected to represent;
• We have an endless supply of snake oil salesmen peddling fake cures, fake preventative devices, and frankly shitty “medical” advice to a population that is both frightened, and super-credulous;
• We have a patchwork approach to dealing with the virus, in no small part because we have all but gutted our public health systems in none-urban areas;
• We have an overworked, underpaid, and increasingly frustrated and disheartened frontline medical staff that hasn’t seen a break since March, and gets to watch idiots wander around in public without masks, like nothing is going to happen to them;

The similarities between the two epidemics exists in no small part because, as with the HIV epidemic, our federal government has been led to failure by an incompetent administration, hellbent on hamstringing medical professionals and proffering false hope of a quick turnaround, optimism that we’re turning a corner, and outright lies, when what the American people need is honesty, instead of a lying carnival barker.

It isn’t just HIV survivors who see these parallels – epidemiologists have recognized this pattern of failure in America’s healthcare system and governance:

"If you put a map of the HIV epidemic over a map of the worst coronavirus hotspots, they look almost identical,” said Jared Baeten, the vice dean of the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and an HIV epidemiologist for more than a decade. “COVID is becoming just another disease that travels along the fault lines of the disparities in our society. (Hobbes, 2020)

A lot of HIV researchers are exasperated,” said Greg Millett, the vice president and director of public policy for amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research. “We’re old enough to have lived through the HIV response, and we’re watching the same mistakes taking place with COVID. (Hobbes, 2020)"

It’s no accident that the most trusted man in America – at least, trusted by intelligent Americans – is Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the preeminent researchers and doctors of the HIV epidemic. He has long been honored as a beacon of integrity and leadership throughout the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Photo Source: homelandprepnews.com

For those of us old enough to remember watching friends and loved ones die of HIV/AIDS, watching the same mistakes being repeated, only with greater incompetence and with a brazen refusal to do what’s necessary and right, is traumatic. One of the first casualties I knew personally was someone whose adult life was dedicated to serving people living with HIV:

Garry Bowie, with whom I collaborated for the Long Beach AIDS Foundation, in Long Beach, CA, passed away in the early months of the pandemic. He was a man in whom I found a trusted confidante, and his husband, Jeff Wacha, has been soldiering on as best he can.

After Garry’s passing, I wept for the first time since my partner and I separated. I can’t imagine what Jeff is experiencing, and worse, still, how infuriated he must be to watch idiots wandering around without masks, like their lives aren’t literally on the line.

So, yes – the HIV and COVID-19 epidemics share many similarities, and to anyone who says that I, as someone living with AIDS, shouldn’t say that, because it’s insensitive, I invite them to shut the hell up and pay better attention.

References:

• Hobbes, M. (2020, August 11). Will America Let COVID-19 Become The Next HIV? Huffington Post. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/will-america-let-covid-19-become-next-hiv_n_5f31ad0ec5b6960c066af7d1?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004

Disclaimer: Guest blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of the ADAP Advocacy Association, but rather they provide a neutral platform whereby the author serves to promote open, honest discussion about public health-related issues and updates.