Looking at the AIDS Crisis and COVID-19

Two infectious diseases. Two global health crises. Two examples where slow government response and the spread of stigmatizing misinformation made matters worse.

For World AIDS Day, I took a look at how lessons we learned from the AIDS crisis can help us handle our current COVID-19 pandemic.

I spoke with Dr. Hyman Scott, MPH, the clinical research medical director at Bridge HIV and an assistant clinical professor of medicine at UCSF, and Dr. Robert Gross, MSCE, co-director of the Penn Center for AIDS Research at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, about how the U.S. government failed twice, how the most vulnerable communities were most at risk and underserved during both crises, and what we can do moving forward.