Pandemic fuels continued rise in STDs among youngest sexually active adolescents

The fallout from the pandemic has run the gamut from an unstable economy to an uptick in social-emotional problems. Experts suggest the pandemic may also be responsible for a continued upward trajectory in sexually transmitted diseases among Connecticut’s youngest sexually active residents.

Conditions during the pandemic, including less access to sexual health care and more free time, have helped to exacerbate the trend among young people, say health care providers. “Most parents are working. Students are home alone. They are having friends over,” said Ceri Burke, a nurse practitioner at Danbury High School’s on-site health center. “There’s an increase in sexual activity among the kids I’m seeing.”

These factors, coupled with recent data trends, suggest a continued upward trajectory of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) during the pandemic among adolescents, with Black teens being disproportionately affected.

In 2019, national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed STDs had risen to their highest level for the sixth consecutive year, a statistic some blame in part on the Trump administration’s dismantling of accessible and affordable health care and associated educational resources and programming. Adolescents and young adults (ages 15-24) make up a disproportionate share of these numbers; adolescents of color are especially hard hit.

Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2021/05/29/pandemic-fuels-continued-rise-in-stds-among-youngest-sexually-active-adolescents/