WASHINGTON — The number of new HIV cases continue to drop in D.C. even though the amount of people with HIV in the city is still alarmingly high.
On Wednesday, Mayor Vincent Gray said there were 680 new cases of HIV in 2012, the most recent figures available, which represents a 42 percent drop from the number of cases reported in 2008. That year, the city reported almost 1,200 new cases.
The results in the new report are from two years ago because it takes a long time to collect and validate the numbers.
Still, more than 2 percent of D.C. residents have HIV. That’s a “severe epidemic,” according to the World Health Organization.
“The District continues to make progress,” Gray says of the new report. “The District of Columbia’s effort to reduce new cases of HIV continues to be incredibly successful.”
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