Numbers Do Lie (But Hopefully Not Poll Numbers)

Diehard West Wing fans (those of us who stuck it out post-Aaron Sorkin) might remember the Season 7 election night episode in which Santos campaign staff keep finding Otto, their young speech writer, in hotel hallways and adding to his growing to do list. They want one speech for if they win, one if they lose, one if they win the popular vote but lose the electoral college, one if they win the electoral college but lose the popular vote, one if they win the election but lose Santos’ home state of Texas, and, of course, one if they have no idea who won by the end of election night. I feel like Otto right now, only instead of working on what my guy is going to say, I’m trying to steel myself for how I’m going to feel when we learn the final outcome. I went into yesterday joking that I was nauseously optimistic, a phrase I used frequently during the early days of my second pregnancy, but admit that this morning I’m feeling just plan nauseous. Let’s just hope that the waiting really is the hardest part.

Don’t Believe the Stats, It’s Unlikely that STD Rates are Really Going Down

Donald Trump was right about one thing—if you don’t test, the numbers won’t go up. That’s exactly what’s happening with STDs right now; the actual number of reported cases this year is far lower than it has been in years. Luckily no one at the CDC is suggesting that they’ve ended the STD epidemic (or boasting that they understand our planet, but that’s another story). Instead, they’re noting that with lockdown orders in effect and testing resources being moved to fight Covid-19, fewer people have gotten tested.

Like most things in our lives, reported cases of STDs were pretty much on track through February according to data presented by the CDC at the 2020 STD Prevention Conference. That month, for example, there were almost 57,000 cases of chlamydia reported. In April—when we were all home conserving toilet paper and hoping for a grocery delivery slot—that number dropped by more than half. It is reasonable to assume that weeks on end with no access to restaurants, bars, or mistresses saved some people from STD infections, but most of this drop does not represent an actual decline in infections but rather a decrease in testing (sorry Donald, the two are different). 

The problem goes beyond doctors’ offices that closed for a few months. Much of the STD testing in this country is done in clinics run by state and local health departments, and the resources for these offices—both funding and staff—were diverted toward the pandemic. Contact tracers who would normally spend their time tracking down partners of syphilis patients in an effort to test and treat everyone they had sex with, were now following up on superspreader events. But it’s even worse than that: in some areas of the country testing supplies are running short because swabs, tubes, and chemical reagents are being used for Covid testing instead. The CDC is now recommending that clinicians facing shortages prioritize tests for those with symptoms, women under 25, pregnant women, and people at high risk for STDs, including those who are living with HIV. Routine screenings are losing out.

As I said last week, we’re all armchair epidemiologists now. We know that the key to beating an epidemic is testing. If you test, you can treat, which is important to the infected person because without treatment STDs can lead to long-term side effects like infertility. But it’s also important to the community because that person stops spreading the infection. If you can go even further and treat their partner(s), those people stop spreading the infection as well. Treatment of today’s infections is prevention of tomorrow’s.

STDs are an epidemic of their own in this country. The CDC’s preliminary data for 2019 (also released at the conference) show 1.76 million reported cases of chlamydia; 602,000 reported cases of gonorrhea; and nearly 123,000 cases of primary and secondary syphilis. These are all up from the previous year. In fact, cases of all three of these STDs have been steadily rising since 2010. We can’t afford to drop the ball on one epidemic just because another one came along. Perhaps when we get a president who realizes that the disease is still there even if the swab hasn’t gone up the nose (or urethra) to confirm it, clinics will be given the resources they need.    

Puerto Rico’s Health Department Pulls Masturbation Public Service Announcement

The Department of Health in Puerto Rico launched a safer sex PSA on social media last week, but it didn’t stay up for long (that might be a pun, even I’m not sure). Like many public health experts, the department suggested masturbation as the safest form of sex during this ongoing pandemic. The post—which also told people to wash their hands and their sex toys before and after doing the deed—included a picture of a thumb pressing the middle of a grapefruit. It’s unclear whether it was the message or the image (which was one of the tamer grapefruit-as-vulva pics out there) that put it over the edge, but, apparently, together this was too much for some forces on the island.   

The department quickly pulled the PSA but defended the message as one that had been validated by public health experts and epidemiologists. In a statement, the department said its intention was only “to educate and prevent” but it recognized that “the publication was offensive to some sectors of the population.”  

I must say, I’ve never understood why conservative forces don’t fully embrace masturbation. It’s always consensual, entirely safe, and gives horny teenagers and randy spouses something to do with their excess libidinous energy. You want to stop teenagers from getting pregnant, encourage them to stick their hands down their own pants. You want to discourage extra-marital affairs, suggest husbands and wives invest in sex toys and fantasize about anyone they damn well please. You want to end the rampant spread of STDs, remind people that they can avoid a lot of pain and itch by just having sex with themselves. Even James Dobson—founder of the Far Right organization Focus on the Family—said that trying to stop masturbation wasn’t worth the effort. Why not go further and suggest it as a fun way to spend an afternoon or an entire pandemic?

Read More Me: I wrote about masturbation as the perfect pandemic pastime for Bedsider in honor of Masturbation May.

New Jersey Works to Protect Reproductive Freedom

I can’t say I’ve always taken pride in my home state. Being from New Jersey is not be like being a proud Texan or a sun-kissed California girl. We are the butt of jokes (“what exit?”) and seem to hang our hats on Taylor Ham and the 24-hour availability of diner fries. John Gorka captured it all perfectly in this song: “I’m from New Jersey I don't expect too much, if the world ended today I would adjust… I'm from New Jersey, no I don't talk that way…There are girls from New Jersey who have that great big hair, they're found in shopping malls, I will take you there.”

But today, those of us from the Garden State have something to celebrate. Our governor (who has been leading with science and a firm hand throughout the pandemic) is proudly supporting the New Jersey Reproductive Freedom Act. The Act was introduced by Democrats in the state senate and assembly as a result of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s death and the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, which gives the Supreme Court a decidedly conservative majority. If the newly redesigned SCOTUS overturns its Roe v. Wade precedent, the legality and availability of abortion will be up to individual states.

The goal of the act is to: “Ensure that all New Jerseyans have the right to make their own personal health decisions when it comes to birth control and pregnancy-related care, including abortion.” In an effort to remove financial barriers to reproductive health care should the Affordable Care Act be abolished by the high court, the act also requires that private insurance companies cover birth control and abortion care with no out-of-pocket costs. 

Governor Phil Murphy said in a statement: “As access to health care and the right to choose are under attack at the federal level, we will support, defend, and protect reproductive rights here in New Jersey. The Reproductive Freedom Act will remove barriers to reproductive health, as well as expand access to contraception while reaffirming choice. Together, we stand unwavering in our commitment to work towards reproductive freedom for all New Jerseyans.”   

John Gorka got one thing wrong when he said “I’m from New Jersey, it’s like Ohio, but even more so.” Ohio legislators have been chipping away at abortion rights for years. That state already requires women to receive “counseling” (which the Guttmacher Institute describes as including “information designed to discourage the patient from having an abortion”) and then wait 24 hours before the procedure is provided. And, it is one of the states hoping the new SCOTUS will let it keep its heartbeat bill which prohibits abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected—a developmental milestone that often occurs before a woman even knows she’s pregnant.

Okay, I admit, I’m proud of the state that I continue to call home despite swearing up and down as a teenager that I would never move back. (And, I’m extra proud of my liberal Maplewood bubble which is currently awash in a sea of Biden/Harris signs.)