Advocates and public health experts in the HIV community have been working a similar problem for a long time.

While no vaccine exists for HIV, effective antiviral treatment does. People in effective treatment have their viral loads reduced to undetectable and are no longer able to transmit HIV.

In theory, HIV circulation in the United States should be practically non-existent. Unfortunately, the reality is different. Incidence persists in populations often defined by geography and race.

Public health experts say people of color in the American South are most at risk. Access to medical care in general, and access to HIV treatment in particular are not properly accessible to these populations.

Public health departments in places like New York City have been working on effective HIV-treatment strategies for years — to target at-risk populations, particularly people of color who struggle with medical care. NYC has met with a lot of success, on the road to reducing HIV incidence to negligible levels.

While Covid19 presents a different set of challenges than HIV, some of the issues with access to medical care are very similar. Public health experts who are not familiar with the work that’s been done to target racial minorities with HIV treatment may wish to review the work that’s been done and the strategies that have proven effective.