Impact of COVID-19 on People Living with HIV: Data from Five Medical Monitoring Project Sites, 2020-2022.

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global economic and healthcare systems. People living with HIV (PLWH) represent a marginalized and stigmatized population who may have been particularly impacted. The purpose of this analysis was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PLWH in the United States. SETTING United States. METHODS We analyzed surveys of behavioral and clinical characteristics of PLWH residing in five states that participated in the Medical Monitoring Project between 2020 and 2022. We described the impact of COVID-19 illness, testing and diagnoses, receipt of medical care, social service access, employment, and preventive measures by project site and demographic characteristics. RESULTS Unweighted data from 1715 PLWH were analyzed. A high proportion of PLWH had medical care disrupted by the pandemic; 31% of PLWH missed medical appointments, 26% missed routine labs, and 7% missed antiretroviral therapy doses. 30% of PLWH reported losing wages and 19% reported difficulty in accessing social services. Overall, 88% reported receiving at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, but vaccine uptake was low among younger, Black and Hispanic or Latina/o/x PLWH. CONCLUSION This descriptive analysis reinforces previous findings that show that COVID-19 negatively impacted PLWH and their ability to obtain medical care. Additional efforts will be critical to ameliorating the longer-term impacts of COVID-19 on the health of PLWH and supporting PLWH through future pandemics and healthcare system disruptions.