Did you know that having HIV/AIDS can pose legal threats in 37states? During the beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, in the 1980s, legislation was passed in an attempt to “curb the spread” of the disease. As we deal with the current COVID-19 pandemic, some not only fight legislation that could help stop the spread, but roll back public health protections like mask mandates and indoor capacity caps. Even though the HIV/AIDs pandemic affected all demographics regardless of age, race, and gender, it was designated the ailment of homosexuals. This stigma made it easy for the government to prosecute people infected with HIV/AIDS. Criminal statutes–from reckless endangerment to attempted murder–can still punish those who simply have potential to expose others to HIV. The first recorded case of HIV/AIDs in the United States was in 1981. From 1981 to 1983 there were 3,391 recorded cases of the illness. With a death rate of nearly 65 percent, HIV/AIDS quickly became some of the most deadly diseases in history. From 1981 to 2019 in the U.S. there were 2.2 million HIV infections among people aged 13 and older–and, to date, around 700,000 deaths. Let’s put that into perspective by comparing HIV/AIDS to COVID-19. In the relatively short TWO years since COVID-19 began, there have been 58.9 million confirmed cases. We have lost 833,000 lives. COVID-19 has caused more U.S. citizen deaths in the past two years than the all-time, 38-year, number of deaths caused by HIV/AIDS. In terms of number of confirmed cases, that’s 58.9 million for COVID-19 since 2019 versus 2.2 million for HIV/AIDS since 1981. That’s nearly 27 times the infection rate of one of the world’s most notorious illnesses in just two years. But instead of trying to mandate our way out of this, many still act as if it should be a personal choice whether to protect ourselves and others. Being vaccinated and wearing a mask are the only tools we currently have to reduce future numbers of both COVID-19 cases and deaths. Anti-vaxxers and anti-mask conspiracy theorists make this goal nearly impossible for the country. It doesn’t add up. To this day, you can still be arrested, tried and prosecuted for simply living with HIV/AIDs–yet, walking around spreading the current, and way more infectious, disease is not only ok, but revered within some groups in the US. Sources https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/policies/law/states/exposure.html https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2021-09-22/spreading-hiv-is-against-the-law-in-37-states-with-penalties-ranging-up-to-life-inprison https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.7089584 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7022a1.htm https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality https://www.factlv.org/timeline.htm