Dr Richard Friedman, the psychoanalyst responsible for debunking the myth that homosexuality can be cured, has sadly passed away at the age of 79.
As a young man Friedman stood out in his field by becoming the first to combine findings in psychobiology, gender identity and family studies with psychoanalytic theory.
His revolutionary 1988 book, ‘Male Homosexuality: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspective,’ showed that sexual orientation was largely biological, not mental.
It had a major impact at a time when most other psychoanalysts were continuing to describe homosexuality as a “perversion”, even though the American Psychiatric Association had stopped classifying it as an illness by 1973.
“I felt an ethical obligation to find the reasons for anti-homosexual prejudice,” he once told an interviewer, according to the New York Times.
His wife, Susan Matorin, explained his motivation more simply: “Straight people had the same personality issues, and they got away with murder, but gay people were stigmatised, and he didn’t think that was right.”
“He very much felt like you followed the science, and it didn’t matter what the political backdrop was,” his son,Jeremiah, added.
Using studies of identical twins and theories of developmental psychology, Friedman argued that it was biology, rather than upbringing, which played a significant role in sexual orientation.
The controversial position was a direct challenge to popular Freudian theories and thrust him into the centre of debates alongside more established heavyweights of his field.
“Given that he was a younger colleague, it was brave of him to take older experts on,” Jack Drescher, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, told the New York Times.
Friedman went on to publish an article on female homosexuality which received an award from The Journal of The American Psychoanalytic Association as the best publication of 1998.
His work on sexuality was well ahead of its time – just last year the American Psychoanalytic Association issued a belated apology for treating homosexuality as an illness, acknowledging that its past errors contributed to discrimination and trauma for LGBT+ people.
The implications of his work continue to have an impact today as LGBT+ advocates battle against the discredited practice of conversion therapy, which is still legal in most parts of the world.
Dr Richard Friedman sadly died on March 31 at his home in Manhattan. Although his cause of death has not yet been determined, he reportedly struggled for years with health problems, including cardiac and metabolic conditions.
He is survived by a wife, son, two daughters and two grandchildren.
Had there been no coronavirus pandemic, America’s largest mainline Protestant denomination would be convening this week for a likely vote to break up over differences on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBTQ pastors.
Instead, the United Methodist Church was forced to postpone the potentially momentous conference, leaving its various factions in limbo for perhaps 16 more months. The deep doctrinal differences seem irreconcilable, but for now there’s agreement that response to the pandemic takes priority.
“The people who are really in trauma right now cannot pay the price of our differences,” said Kenneth Carter, the Florida-based president of the UMC’s Council of Bishops. “What is in our minds and hearts is responding to death, illness, grief, loss of work.”
The conference was to have taken place at the Minneapolis Convention Center starting Tuesday, running through May 15. Instead, bishops are proposing to hold it there Aug. 31-Sept. 10 of next year.
The differences have simmered for years, and came to a head in February 2019 at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 for a proposal strengthening bans on LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Most U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBTQ-friendly options; they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the delegates from Methodist strongholds in Africa and the Philippines.
In the aftermath of that meeting, many moderate and liberal clergy made clear they would not abide by the bans, and various groups worked throughout 2019 on proposals to let the UMC split along theological lines.
There have been at least four different proposals for how to implement a split.
The most widely discussed plan has a long name — the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation — and some high-level support.
It was negotiated by 16 bishops and advocacy group leaders with differing views on LGBTQ inclusion. They were assisted by renowned mediator Kenneth Feinberg, who administered victim compensation funds stemming from the 9/11 attacks and the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Under the protocol, conservative congregations and regional bodies would be allowed to separate from the UMC and form a new denomination. They would receive $25 million in UMC funds and be able to keep their properties.
Formed in a merger in 1968, the UMC claims about 12.6 million members worldwide, including nearly 7 million in the United States. Leaders of the various factions have avoided making predictions of how many members might leave for a new denomination.
In hopes of minimizing friction, the protocol calls for a moratorium on enforcement of bans related to LGBTQ issues. Most bishops seem comfortable with that proposal, although Virginia-based Bishop Sharma Lewis approved initial disciplinary proceedings against a pastor in her region who officiated at a same-sex marriage.
There have been tangible benefits for one of the protocol negotiators, the Rev. David Meredith, who entered into a same-sex marriage with his long-time partner while serving as a pastor in Cincinnati.
The bishop of Meredith’s West Ohio region, Gregory Palmer, also served on the protocol team and endorsed the moratorium that freezes ongoing judicial proceedings against Meredith.
“Everything that has been a threat is now in a drawer collecting dust,” Meredith said.
Some conservatives worry that further flouting of the bans will occur ahead of the rescheduled national conference.
“For any clergy to try to use this interim to willfully violate their own vows … would demonstrate an extreme lack of integrity and self-control,” said John Lomperis, who works with the conservative Institute on Religion & Democracy and will be a delegate at next year’s conference.
Lomperis is among a faction of UMC conservatives, now eager to form a new denomination, who worry that bishops supporting LGBTQ inclusion will use the delay to tilt outcomes in their favor during decision-making by regional bodies.
The Rev. Tom Lambrecht, general manager of the conservative Methodist magazine Good News, said he and his allies have heard of instances where liberal pastors were appointed to lead conservative congregations and where small conservative churches were closed.
“We will be vigilant to call out such behavior after the coronavirus crisis passes,” Lambrecht said via email.
Some conservatives complain that the proposed $25 million payment to a new traditionalist denomination is unfairly small.
But the Rev. Tom Berlin of Herndon, Virginia, a supporter of LGBTQ inclusion who served on the protocol team, says the proposal is generous in allowing departing churches to keep their property.
“The majority of the wealth in the UMC is found in the real estate and bank accounts of the local churches,” he said. “The protocol allows them to retain that.”
Berlin says debate over LGBTQ policies “is on the back burner for now.”
“Once we get out of this, we’ll get back to the future of the UMC,” he said. “But now, churches of all varieties are working to respond to this pandemic in positive ways.”
Support for the protocol is far from unanimous, though its backers predict it will win majority support next year. One dissenting faction, known as the “liberationists,” believes the proposal doesn’t go far enough in curbing racism, sexism and anti-LGBTQ sentiment within the UMC.
A leaders of that faction, the Rev. Jay Williams of Union Church in Boston, hopes local churches will use the coming year to “innovate and adapt” without awaiting top-down directives.
“I hope that we might claim this moment as an opportunity to courageously confront the systemic oppressions that have plagued our denomination since its beginning,” he said via email.
When the conference does convene, the African delegates will be a key voting bloc. In St. Louis, they were pivotal in approving the strengthened bans on LGBTQ-inclusive practices.
The Rev. Keith Boyette, president of the conservative Wesleyan Covenant Association and one of the protocol negotiators, has met with many African delegates. He says they have pledged support for the protocol, but want some changes – for example, giving them the option of retaining the words “United Methodist” in the name of whatever new traditionalist body they join.
Bishop John Yambasu of Sierra Leone, the lone African among the protocol negotiators, said the proposal was “by no means perfect” but seemed to be the most acceptable option.
In an email, he depicted the pandemic as “a holy call to action from God…. to make make Christian disciples for the transformation of the world.”
HIV transmission has dropped significantly with lockdown breaking the chain of new cases, a leading sexual health clinic has claimed.
56 Dean Street, a London-based sexual health clinic, is urging people to order free home test kits online in an effort to keep the number of new HIV cases down when the pandemic is over.
The clinic said HIV transmission has “plummeted” during coronavirus lockdown.
“Even COVID clouds have silver linings,” it wrote on its website.
“Fewer hook-ups since lockdown has resulted in a huge reduction of HIV and other STIs. The chain is broken.”
56 Dean Street says an increase in testing could help them ‘beat HIV’.
56 Dean Street said that an increase in testing now could help to “keep transmissions down and beat HIV”.
“We may never get this chance again,” the organisation continued, explaining that the coronavirus pandemic has presented a “once-in-a-generation opportunity in the fight against HIV”.
They said transmission of the virus has “dropped dramatically” in the last few weeks because “there are less people having sex in London”.
“What’s more, when someone first catches the virus, they are super infectious and more likely to pass on HIV than normal,” it continued.
“But because there aren’t many super infectious people around, this has reduced transmission even further.”
Transmission of the virus could remain low after the pandemic if testing is increased.
The clinic says if everyone gets tested during lockdown and knows their status, transmission could be kept at this low rate after the pandemic has come to a close.
Those who test positive during lockdown can start taking medication straight away, which if taken properly would make it impossible for them to pass it on to others through condomless sex.
A trans police officer in Utah is suing his former employer after alleged discrimination at work drove him to alcohol and suicidal thoughts.
Taylor Scruggs had worked for the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake (UPD) for ten years without issue, but when he came out as trans in 2015 he started to experience problems.
In a lawsuit, Scruggs alleges that his co-workers began to make snide and hostile remarks, and that a “Men Only” sign was put on a previously unisex bathroom.
The former officer says he was also deprived of help from superiors, and was lumped with “lesser assignments and busy work”.
He was also reportedly barred from accessing transition-related care under the force’s health care policy — which permits “medically necessary hormone replacement therapy” and “medically necessary genital surgery” for cisgender people but “expressly excludes coverage of such treatments when prescribed for gender transition”.
The police officer says he was discriminated against (Mark Kolbe/Getty)
Speaking to The Salt Lake Tribune, Scruggs said: “I felt really alone, like I wasn’t being supported. I would go home and not feel feel that same, ‘Gosh, you can’t wait to get up and do it all over again tomorrow’ feeling.”
Scruggs explained that the hostile treatment drove him to a stint in rehab in July 2018 — after which he says he was punished for “sick leave abuse” and later demoted. Two months later, he called a suicide crisis hotline fearing that he was going to kill himself, venting about work. He says he was fired as a result of the call in November 2018.
Former police officer wants his job back and trans-inclusive training.
In his lawsuit, Scruggs is seeking his job back — as well as new policies and training to accommodate its transgender employees.
He said: “If I can help somebody else go through this process and it not be so complicated for them, then that’s what I hope to accomplish.”
The department has said it disputes Scruggs’ allegations, but has declined to comment publicly while preparing its response.
If you are in the UK and are having suicidal thoughts, suffering from anxiety or depression, or just want to talk, you can contact Samaritans on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. If you are in the US call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
The transgender community, which is one of the populations that has been most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, has been explicitly excluded from contingency plans that seek to prevent the virus’ spread.
Sex workers have been left to their own devices during this health crisis and they can practically only count on themselves. Due to confinement, most of them can’t go out to work, and to stop working is not a choice when they live on a day by day basis and the only housing they can afford are “pagadiarios” (places for which they pay by the day.) Some of the sex workers who can’t get enough money to pay them do not have anywhere to stay during the lockdown or, even worse, they have had to live on the streets where they are more prone to get infected with COVID-19.
Different community-based organizations like Calle 7 Colombia and Fundación Red Comunitaria Trans have created initiatives to mitigate the impact of this situation.
Red Comunitaria, for example, created an emergency fund for sex workers during the pandemic. It has given — aside from safety — economic support, food and housing to thousands of trans people. However, individual private donations alone will not be enough to benefit everyone who needs it.
That is not the only problem the trans community is facing. Many different Colombian cities, including Bogotá, from April 13 have implemented “pico y género”, a gender-based measure that allows only men to leave their homes on odd days, only women to leave their homes on even days and trans people to leave their homes on those days based on their gender identity.
Although this decision was taken as a strategy to diminish both the number of people in the streets and to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, this decree makes non-binary or gender non-conforming people and the trans community more prone to violence.
The main concern with the decree is the police become the identity definer and watchdog. Their use of violence and abuse of power has been a historic phenomenon that has served to kill many people.
As of the date of this publication, they have already been numerous physical and verbal assaults against trans and non-hegemonic gender people. These include the case of Joseph, a trans man who was denied the right to enter a supermarket because the employees thought he was not enough of a “man.”
A similar situation happened in Peru, which alongside Panama also applied this measure. The government rescinded the policy after a video posted to social media showed police officers forcing three trans women to squat while they were forced to repeat “I want to be a man.”
It is understandable that a pandemic’s reality requires the adoption of measures for controlling the spread of the virus among citizens and that some of them demand the restrictions of some fundamental rights, such as freedom of movement and association. All of this is aimed to protect public health, but these policies cannot, in any moment, infringe on nondiscrimination rights.
The Colombian government must therefore listen to the voices of the most vulnerable populations during the crisis, who have been forced to endure unfair exclusion and assume the State’s responsibilities. Countries around the world must adopt mechanisms to restrict movement without using criteria that fosters additional risks for populations that already cope with structural exclusion in society because they are constantly criminalized and persecuted.
The Trump administration is moving to scrap an Obama-era policy that protected LGBTQ patients from discrimination, alarming health experts who warn that the regulatory rollback could harm vulnerable people during a pandemic.
The health department is close to finalizing its long-developing rewrite of Obamacare’s Section 1557 provision, which barred health care discrimination based on sex and gender identity. The administration’s final rule on Thursday was circulated at the Justice Department, a step toward publicly releasing the regulation in the coming days, said two people with knowledge of the pending rule.
The White House on Friday morning also updated a regulatory dashboard to indicate that the rule was under review. Advocates fear that it would allow hospitals and health workers to more easily discriminate against patients based on their gender or sexual orientation.
Read the full article. As I’ve previously reported, this change has been long coming. Apparently the Trump administration figures they can finally push it through relatively unnoticed during the relentless pandemic news. They may be right.
The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that a potential second wave of the novel coronavirus could be far more fatal than the current phase of the pandemic because it may overlap with the beginning of flu season this winter.
Government leaders at all levels must use the months ahead to prepare for such a resurgence even as some states announce plans to resurrect their economies, CDC Director Robert Redfield told The Washington Post in a wide-ranging interview published Tuesday.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” Redfield told the Post. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”
The health official said the virus could be harsher in a second wave because having concurrent outbreaks of the flu and COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, would put immense pressure on the nation’s health care system. Both viruses cause respiratory symptoms and can require similar protective gear and medical equipment.
Redfield also said that government leaders must stress the need to continue social distancing as states lift stay-at-home orders, as well as exponentially scale up each state’s ability to identify infected residents through testing and then trace back others they’d come in contact with.
But Trump just this week dismissed bipartisan concerns about states not having adequate supplies, claiming that the U.S. was testing people “at a number nobody thought possible.”
“Not everybody believes we should do so much testing,” Trump said during Monday’s coronavirus briefing. “You don’t need so much. The reason that the Democrats and some others maybe … they want maximum because they want to be able to criticize, because it’s almost impossible to get to the maximum number, and yet we’ve been able to do it already.”
TRUMP: “Not everybody believes we should do so much testing. You don’t need so much. … Democrats and some others … want maximum because they want to be able to criticize because it’s almost impossible to get to the maximum number and yet we’ve been able to do it already.”94:44 PM – Apr 20, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy25 people are talking about this
The White House released criteria last week for states to review how to best restore their economies in phases, including being required to first record 14 days of declining cases and to establish strong testing programs. The CDC has also created detailed guidelines for state and local governments on how to ease mitigation efforts to support a safe reopening, which Redfield told the Post will be “in the public domain shortly.”Subscribe to The Morning Email.Wake up to the day’s most important news.
Despite public demands to reopen the economy, a new set of HuffPost/YouGov polling found that the overwhelming majority of Americans support their state’s stay-at-home orders and are making a concerted effort to follow them. The most recent survey, conducted last Friday through Sunday, suggested that 86% of Americans were trying to stay home as much as possible, and about 65% said they would continue to stay home even if their area lifted all restrictions.
Part of the preparation for a potential second wave of COVID-19 includes convincing Americans to get their flu shots in the coming summer months so that public health officials can minimize the number of people hospitalized for one of the two respiratory illnesses. Redfield told the Post that getting vaccinated for the flu “may allow there to be a hospital bed available for your mother or grandmother that may get coronavirus.”
A 37-year-old non-binary person who passed away from coronavirus this week kept a heartbreaking online journal of their experience.
PJ McClelland from Florida, who died on April 11, had gained hundreds of followers as they shared their experience of having COVID-19 through daily Facebook posts.
They were originally screened for coronavirus on March 23 and sent to be tested the next day. A few days later they found out they had a positive test result. They had no underlying health conditions other than a recent diagnosis of sleep apnea.
Their update that day read: “I’m getting sicker by the day. It feels like I have a migraine, bronchitis, and the flu all at once… Don’t worry about me. I’m relatively young and healthy.
“Worry about the people I’ve been around who are EXTREMELY high risk. It breaks my heart to think I may have given this to them.”
PJ McClelland was sent home after being rushed to hospital.
They later began to develop severe chest pain and were taken to hospital by ambulance, then admitted in isolation.
McClelland wrote: “I was their first confirmed case, and I am REALLY f**king worried. NO ONE had proper PPE. They had zero N95 masks.”
However, after their oxygen levels increased to 94 per cent, they were sent home with an inhaler.
By day 10, their symptoms were still worsening, and they wrote: “I’m only sharing this because I think people need to know that not everyone has ‘minor cold symptoms for a few days’.
This is, by far, the sickest I’ve ever been. I’m writing this through tears.
On day 16, McClelland’s symptoms took an even scarier turn. They wrote: “For the last three days I’ve been coughing ridiculously often… but s**t got REAL early this morning.
“For what seemed like an eternity, but was actually a couple of hours, I coughed non-stop. Literally. I couldn’t breathe. Like barely at all. Just a gasp between coughing here and there. I was having a panic attack the entire time.
“My hands were tingling and I lost my peripheral vision. I know you’re wondering why the f**k I didn’t call 911. Idk if it was the lack of oxygen, the fever, exhaustion, or something else, but I was extremely confused/ disoriented.
“I can’t quite articulate how absolutely terrifying this ordeal was. I just wanted to breathe, and I couldn’t. It was, without a doubt, the scariest thing that has ever happened to me.”
Non-binary COVID-19 victim shared final update two days before their death.
On April 9, in what would be their final update, they said: “I can safely say this has been the longest, and some of the worst, three weeks of my life… I know I’ve said this, but it bears repeating: I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m NOT saying I’m out of the woods yet.
“I’ve seen far too many cases of people who were on the mend in the morning and died that night.”
They said they would be getting more blood tests and another chest x-ray that day, and promised to update later.
But the update never came, and McClelland passed away from coronavirus at home two days later.
Their close friend Tim Ross told Fox News: “As a close friend for many years, it was difficult to read. But I feel it was important.
“Everybody who met PJ became a friend, and it’s been evident in the outpouring of support since their passing.
After the Food and Drug Administration changed the rules for blood donations from gay and bisexual men earlier this month, coronavirus survivor Lukus Estok saw an opportunity to help other patients recover from the disease.
For years, the FDA has restricted men who have had sex with men in the preceding year from donating blood, but loosened its rules on April 2 as a way to address a sharp drop in donors during the coronavirus outbreak.
Within days, Estok tried to donate blood plasma for a test program in New York City that treats severely ill COVID-19 patients with plasma from patients who have developed antibodies and recovered from the disease. He said he was turned away after revealing he was gay.
“I was shocked,” said Estok, 36. “I’ve been through a month of hell with this virus. I’m finally recovered. I’ve been through a screening process that tells me I’m a potential candidate to help somebody else and now I’m being told I can’t.”
NBC News found that despite the rule change hundreds of the nation’s blood centers are still unable to accept blood from gay men, even though there’s a desperate need for blood at U.S. hospitals and a desire to get plasma with antibodies from COVID-19 survivors. Both the Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers, which together represent 800 banks nationwide, told NBC News they haven’t been able to accept donations.
Estok and other gay men who have tried to give blood since April 2 have been unable to do so because many blood donation centers have not yet trained staffers or updated their computer systems to accommodate the new rule. It’s also because a trade group to which nearly all U.S. blood banks belong has not yet gotten approval for an important document from the FDA.
A person stands in front of the New York Blood Center on 67th Street in New York on March 22, 2020.Cindy Ord / Getty Images file
In 1985, as a way to block the transmission of HIV, the FDA blockedall men who had had sex with other men after 1977 from donating blood. The rule was changed to sex within the past 12 months in 2015, and then to sex within the past three months on April 2.
Gay and bisexual men began showing up at blood banks to donate immediately, only to be turned away.
Estok was trying to donate his blood plasma as a part of the Mount Sinai hospital system’s blood plasma therapy program. He found out about the program through friends and knew he wanted to donate his plasma to help others who were sick.
“Having gone through a bit of a horrific experience with the virus and feeling pretty grateful to have come out the other side, I reached out to Mount Sinai,” said Estok.
After multiple screenings, Estok said Mount Sinai called him and said his blood had sufficiently high levels of the needed antibodies and that New York Blood Center would be in touch to schedule an appointment. But once he arrived at New York Blood Center, Estok was told he would be unable to donate.
“I was not expecting the reaction I got,” said Estok on when he told the staff he was gay. “It was like I was radioactive.”
In an exchange that Estok recorded on his phone, the NYBC staff explained to him that they had not yet implemented the FDA’s new guidelines and that the process was “complicated.” Estok was forced to go home without donating plasma.
“I was so upset,” said Estok. “I genuinely want to be able to contribute to help somebody and right now they’re basically putting out messages that they need blood that there’s shortage of blood. But at the end of it, they sent me home.”
An NYBC staffer denied that a potential donor would be asked if he were gay, saying the donor would instead be asked about sexual activity with another man during the past 12 months.
Brandon Gunther, 24, of Sacramento, California, had a similar experience. He attempted to donate at a local blood bank, believing he was eligible under the new guidelines, but was turned away after revealing his sexual history.
“I hadn’t had sex in the past three months so figured I was good to go,” said Gunther. “But the computer rejected my eligibility to donate and I was told ‘you have to remain abstinent from male to male sex for at least one year to be eligible to donate.'”
Gunther says the experience felt discriminatory and jarring.
Blood bank representatives told NBC News the experience has also been frustrating for them, especially since they have been pushing for relaxation of the rules for years. The blood centers can’t just flick a switch and change their rules for donation, they say — making such changes can take months.
Vials of blood from a recovered COVID-19 patient drawn at a laboratory in New York on March 30, 2020.Diana Berrent / AFP – Getty Images file
Linda Goelzer, a spokesperson for Carter BloodCare in Dallas, said “tons” of people showed up at their facilities the day after the FDA guidelines were announced, believing they were now eligible to donate. The staff were forced to turn them away.
“They were so angry with us,” said Goelzer. “People were calling and saying ‘You lied to us, you’re not following the FDA,’ and it’s so unfair. Every blood center in the country has been advocating for these changes, but we have to go through some very rigorous protocols to make these changes so that we can still keep safety in the blood supply and in the process.”
“When the FDA says the word ‘immediately’ that means something totally different in our world,” said Goelzer. “It takes about three months to implement this stuff but [the FDA] is relying on us to communicate that to the public.”
Kate Fry, CEO of America’s Blood Centers, said that the language in the FDA’s guidance was intended to mean that blood centers should immediately begin the process of implementation, recognizing that it would take some time.
“The struggle is in the public perception that it’s actually blood centers who are stalling the effort,” said Fry. “And that is just not the case at all. They are 100 percent working on it. It just takes time.”
According to Fry and confirmed by the FDA, the phrase “immediate implementation” as used in the FDA’s April 2 press release did not necessarily mean that blood centers could immediately begin collecting blood and plasma from newly eligible donors.
In a statement, an FDA spokesperson said that the agency understands that blood centers will have to undergo a lengthy implementation process and that they are willing to help blood centers if needed.
“We are hopeful that blood collectors will work expeditiously to make the changes needed to implement the modified recommendations so that they may begin collecting blood and blood products under these recommendations as quickly as possible,” said Michael Felberbaum, an FDA spokesperson. “The FDA is available and willing to work with them as appropriate to assist them.”
The question of a questionnaire
The spokesperson for the New York Blood Center, where Estok tried to donate plasma, told NBC News that the delay in implementation involved the time needed to train staff, but also involved receiving an updated Donor History Questionnaire from AABB, a industry group formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks. AABB’s has more than 1,400 institutional members, accredits “virtually all” the blood centers in the U.S., according to a spokesperson, and collects the majority of the blood donated in the U.S.
In fact, representatives from all blood centers NBC News contacted said they’re currently waiting on AABB’s updated donor history questionnaire to first be approved by the FDA and then released by the industry group, before they can begin the implementation.
The AABB said it submitted its primary documents, including the donor history questionnaire, to the FDA on April 3 – just one day after the FDA announced new donor guidelines. AABB said it has since sent several documents to the FDA. An AABB spokesperson said that as of Monday it had submitted all of the needed documentation to the FDA, and is in touch with the agency, answering any questions it may have.
The FDA says it is reviewing all COVID-19 related items as quickly as possible, but also noted that the AABB’s member organizations don’t actually have to wait for approval of the AABB questionnaire to move forward. If they submit their own questionnaire to the FDA, they can begin accepting donors immediately.
“As noted in the guidance, while licensed blood establishments may wait to use the revised donor questionnaire and accompanying materials provided by industry associations and found acceptable to the FDA, they may also revise or create their own materials to implement these changes immediately upon receipt of this information by the FDA,” said Felberbaum.
Blood centers say that when they do receive an FDA-approved updated questionnaire from AABB, they will still need to update their computer systems and train their staff on new protocols. A spokesperson for Carter BloodCare said that the staff training would take at least 30 days. The NYBC spokesperson said it hopes to be able to receive newly eligible donors by mid-May.
The Red Cross said it anticipates being able to accept newly eligible donors in June. Kate Fry of America’s Blood Centers said she anticipates her network’s centers will be able to accept newly eligible donors in June or July.
‘The policy remains discriminatory in nature’
Gunther and Estok share in outrage from the LGBT community over what they call a discriminatory experience.
“Not only is it imperative that gay and bisexual men who are now able to donate blood be allowed to do so without delay, the FDA must also lift the 3 month deferral in its entirety,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, a LGBTQ advocacy organization. “The policy remains discriminatory in nature, unaligned with science, and continues to prevent LGBTQ Americans from saving lives.”
But those who are deferred under the old guidelines will still have to wait. Gunther said he wants to encourage others like him to keep trying to donate and not be discouraged if they are turned away.
“We have perfectly good blood to give, and we want to give it and help.”
Kate Fry advised that those who are newly eligible under the FDA guidelines should keep in touch with their local blood bank to check on when the facility expects to finalize implementation.
“We’re so excited to have these individuals become donors again,” said Fry. “We are absolutely working as fast as we can as an industry. Patience is what we ask for our guests during this time and we’ll get them into the fold as quickly as possible.”
Matthew, 30, keeps an emergency stockpile of his life-saving HIV medication at his home in Sacramento, California. He started building his stash shortly after he was diagnosed six years ago, on the recommendation of people he met through a forum for those living with HIV. Without his once-a-day pill, his viral load would increase and his general health would decline.
Now, over a month after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, Matthew hasn’t broken into his stash. But, like many of the 1.1 million HIV-positive people in the United States, he has questions about how the ongoing crisis could affect his access to medication and his chances of contracting the coronavirus, and whether his chronic immune condition could put him at a higher risk of complications due to COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.
“Being positive, it puts it at the forefront of your mind,” Matthew, who requested that his last name not be used to protect his medical privacy, told NBC News. “You have to be present and aware.”
CDC’s recommendations for HIV and COVID-19
There is currently “no specific information” about the risk of COVID-19 in those living with HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the CDC noted that HIV-positive people who are not receiving treatment (antiretroviral therapy) or still have a weakened immune system despite treatment are at greater risk of “getting very sick,” should they contract the coronavirus. According to a 2017 CDC report, approximately half of HIV-positive Americans do not have the virus under control and would fall into this higher-risk category.
To prevent sickness, the CDC recommends HIV-positive individuals avoid exposure to the virus by using everyday preventive measureslike social distancing and frequent hand washing; maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating right, getting at least eight hours of sleep and reducing stress; and continue HIV treatment.
In addition to what’s recommended for all Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic, the CDC advises those with HIV to have at least a 30-day supply of HIV medicine and any other supplies needed for managing HIV; make sure vaccinations are up-to-date; establish a remote clinical care plan; and maintain a remote social network to stay mentally healthy.
Impact of age, comorbidities and poverty
Dr. Robbie Goldstein, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and director of its Transgender Health Program, said the coronavirus is most likely to affect the HIV-positive population through secondary conditions, such as homelessness, incarceration, old age and underlying health problems.
“What I say to my patients is, if you’re taking your medications and your CD4 count is greater than 200, for right now, we believe that it is not your immune system that is going to increase your risk of acquiring COVID,” Goldstein said. “That said, many of my patients and many patients living with HIV have other issues that they’re facing that put them at really high risk.”
One of those issues, according to Goldstein, is age. The CDC has warned that older adults “seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from coronavirus,” with 8 out of 10 people reported dying from COVID-19 complications in the U.S. being 65 and older.
Individuals living with HIV are disproportionately older than the general U.S. population, according to the CDC: While approximately 35 percent of the U.S. population is over 50, nearly half of HIV-positive people are.
Beyond the physical health risks, older people living with HIV are also more likely to experience negative psychological effects as a result of the pandemic, according to Goldstein, who sees HIV-positive patients at his clinic twice a week.
“These are people who watched as all of their young friends died around them” during the AIDS crisis, he said, “and they are once again watching as young people around this country die.”
“We also have to remember that these folks who are now in their 60s and 70s and in some cases in their 80s … are living a life with very few other people around them,” Goldstein said. “They don’t have the same family structure that many other people in their 70s and 80s have. They don’t have kids and friends and partners and parents who can help support them through this.”
People of any age who have “serious underlying medical conditions might be at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19,” according to the CDC. In its guidance, the CDC specifically mentions chronic lung disease, asthma, serious heart conditions, diabetes, liver disease and severe obesity, among other conditions.
While HIV-positive people who start their medication soon after contracting the virus have about the same life expectancy as the general U.S. population, people with long-lasting infection are still more likely to experience additional health problems later in life, according to Stephen Helmke, a geriatric cardiology researcher at Columbia University who has been living with HIV for 34 years.
For example, HIV-positive people are at least 1.5 times more at risk for heart disease and stroke than the general population, according to the American Heart Association. Helmke said this is often a result of the chronic inflammation HIV causes, specifically for people who began their treatment with less effective drugs. Additionally, those living with HIV are more likely to suffer from liver damage, often because of their medication, and are more at risk for additional infections, like hepatitis and tuberculosis.
After recovering from a mild case of COVID-19, Helmke, 56, said he now has a deeper awareness of how dangerous the virus can be for those who have serious underlying conditions, including untreated HIV.
“There are deaths that are directly able to be tied to lung function, and then there’s folks whose lungs are still at the level of functionality, but their heart is not able to deal with the loss of optimal oxygenation,” Helmke said.
Dr. Revery Barnes, a physician specializing in HIV for Los Angeles County, said her main focus for her HIV patients, many of whom are homeless or in poverty, has been ensuring they have access to their medication, as well as food and housing.
While HIV drugs have remained in stock in the United States thus far, Barnes said she is navigating other barriers, like the skyrocketingunemployment rate, that might prevent her patients from accessing and taking their medicine.
“Poverty has been a huge pandemic going on for a long time,” Barnes said. “When you actually get down to the barriers to people taking their medications, so much of it has to do with the fact that they’re spending all of their time trying to find money, or trying to find housing.”
HIV also disproportionately affects incarcerated populations, which have infection rates three to five times higher than the general population, according to a 2013 report from the National Minority AIDS Council. According to the report, “as many as half” of all HIV-positive inmates released from correctional facilities each year have no home to return to.
Goldstein, the physician from Massachusetts, added that factors like homelessness and incarceration have an inherent physical risk when it comes to suppressing a contagious disease like COVID-19.
“The thing that is unique about all of those people … is the fact that they live in high density settings,” Goldstein said. “It’s really easy to social distance when you live alone in an apartment in New York City. It’s very hard to social distance when you live in a shelter in Boston.”
Surviving a pandemic
Two federal assistance programs for people living with HIV — the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS — will see millions in additional funding from the$2 trillion stimulus package that was signed into law on March 27.
Jeremiah Johnson, the HIV project director for Treatment Action Group, an HIV/AIDS advocacy organization, called the funds, which total $155 million, “incredibly welcome,” but he said it is crucial for advocates to keep track of how that money is ultimately used and ensure that it’s enough to help those living with HIV weather this storm.
“I think it’s incumbent on us to really start to sit down and do the math as a community,” he said. “We have a lot of landscaping to do in order to understand if this is even close to what we need to take care of these very vulnerable communities.”
Amid this latest public health crisis, Johnson also stressed the importance of keeping focused on the “ultimate end goal of trying to reign in HIV as an epidemic.”
Echoing the CDC’s guidance, Goldstein said it’s important for those living with HIV to establish a strong virtual support network to combat loneliness as they self-isolate during the mitigation phase of the pandemic. Barnes stressed the importance of keeping up with one’s health status — in terms of HIV and beyond.
“Because you know, somebody who’s diabetic and doesn’t know it is also immune compromised,” Barnes said.
Johnson, a longtime HIV activist who has lived with the virus for over a decade, said he sees a silver lining for people living with HIV and other chronic conditions, who are accustomed to navigating health care obstacles.
“I’m incredibly resilient, and I think that that applies to many people living with HIV,” he said. “We’re actually better prepared than a lot of people to deal with this current reality.”
