Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Tests Performed by a Large National Laboratory-United States, 2019 to 2020.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions were anticipated in the US health care system for routine preventive and other nonemergency care, including sexually transmitted infection care. METHODS: Using a large national laboratory data set, we assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the weekly numbers and percent positivity of chlamydia and gonorrhea tests ordered from the 5th week of 2019 to the 52nd week of 2020 in the United States. We compared weekly 2020 values for test volume, percent positive, and number of positives with the same week in 2019. We also examined the potential impact of stay-at-home orders for the month of April 2020. RESULTS: Immediately after the declaration of a national emergency for COVID-19 (week 11, 2020), the weekly number of gonorrhea and chlamydia tests steeply decreased. Tests then rebounded toward the 2019 pre-COVID-19 level beginning the 15th week of 2020. The weekly percent positive of chlamydia and gonorrhea remained consistently higher in 2020. In April 2020, the overall number of chlamydia tests was reduced by 53.0% (54.1% in states with stay-at-home orders vs. 45.5% in states without stay-at-home orders), whereas the percent positive of chlamydia and gonorrhea tests increased by 23.5% and 79.1%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: To limit the impact of the pandemic on control of chlamydia and gonorrhea, public health officials and health care providers can assess measures put in place during the pandemic and develop new interventions to enable care for sexually transmitted infections to be delivered under pandemic and other emergency conditions. The assessment like this study is continuously needed.

Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Reported Lyme Disease, United States, 2020.

Surveys indicate US residents spent more time outdoors in 2020 than in 2019, but fewer tick bite-related emergency department visits and Lyme disease laboratory tests were reported. Despite ongoing exposure, Lyme disease case reporting for 2020 might be artificially reduced due to coronavirus disease-associated changes in healthcare-seeking behavior.

Changes in Seasonal Respiratory Illnesses in the United States During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Respiratory tract infections are common, often seasonal, and caused by multiple pathogens. We assessed whether seasonal respiratory illness patterns changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We categorized emergency department (ED) visits reported to the National Syndromic Surveillance Program according to chief complaints and diagnosis codes, excluding visits with diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections. For each week during 1 March 2020 through 26 December 2020 ("pandemic period"), we compared the proportion of ED visits in each respiratory category with the proportion of visits in that category during the corresponding weeks of 2017-2019 ("pre-pandemic period"). We analyzed positivity of respiratory viral tests from 2 independent clinical laboratories. RESULTS: During March 2020, cough, shortness of breath, and influenza-like illness accounted for twice as many ED visits compared with the pre-pandemic period. During the last 4 months of 2020, all respiratory conditions, except shortness of breath, accounted for a smaller proportion of ED visits than during the pre-pandemic period. Percent positivity for influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, human parainfluenza virus, adenoviruses, and human metapneumovirus was lower in 2020 than 2019. Although test volume decreased, percent positivity was higher for rhinovirus/enterovirus during the final weeks of 2020 compared with 2019, with ED visits similar to the pre-pandemic period. CONCLUSIONS: Broad reductions in respiratory test positivity and respiratory ED visits (excluding COVID-19) occurred during 2020. Interventions for mitigating spread of SARS-CoV-2 likely also reduced transmission of other pathogens. Timely surveillance is needed to understand community health threats, particularly when current trends deviate from seasonal norms.