Today is National HIV Testing Day, and everyone is encouraged to “know your status.”
The White House put out a statement recognizing this moment, stressing the importance of routine testing. The statement read in part:
Today, there are 1.1 million people living with HIV in America, 15 percent of whom do not yet know their HIV status. Among young Americans infected by the virus, only 50 percent know they have contracted it. HIV carriers who do not know they have the virus put themselves and others at risk, missing out on life-saving treatment and possibly, inadvertently infecting others. People who are not currently receiving treatment transmit more than 90 percent of infections, as they do not benefit from treatments that dramatically reduce the amount of virus in their bodies. That is why the key to interrupting the chain of transmission is a simple, routine HIV test.
GLAAD, however, criticized the statement sating that, “The Trump administration once again failed to even mention the LGBTQ community – continuing its erasure campaign against LGBTQ Americans.” GLAAD responded with the following tweets:
