Figures released this week by the District's HIV/AIDS Administration show that Washington, DC's rate of HIV/AIDS infection numbers around 3%, which is considered a severe epidemic.
Washington's infection rate far surpasses that of other large American cities, including New York, Baltimore, Detroit. Actually it surpasses every American city, and even the perennially down-and-out Port-au-Prince Haiti.
DC's rate ranks alongside Uganda, a Sub-Saharan African nation that was decimated by the disease in the 1990s.
And according to the numbers, it's not just gay folks (but they are well represented). But I must point out that nearly 7% of black men in DC are infected.
Even crazier, the current rate represents an increase of 20% over the figures just two years ago.
Given the news, I'm just wondering how long it will be until the image of DC morphs from
to one that resembles this Time Magazine cover from a few years ago:
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