“Keep It Going if You Can”: HIV Service Provision for Priority Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Seattle, WA

Excerpt

On January 21, 2020, the first known case of COVID-19 in the United States was reported in Western Washington, and in late February, 2020, Seattle became the first major city in the United States reporting deaths from COVID-19 [1]. Lacking federal guidelines or examples from other US-based cities, Washington State and Seattle leadership faced the challenge of determining how to respond to COVID-19. From the beginning, it was clear that COVID-19, like many other infectious diseases [2, 3], was likely to disproportionately impact many vulnerable and marginalized populations, including racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, persons experiencing homelessness, sexual minorities, and persons who inject drugs. These populations, which we will refer to as “priority” populations, bear the double burden of also being most vulnerable to and affected by the HIV epidemic [4]. …