November 30, 2021–9:18 a.m.

STAFF REPORTS

Wednesday is World AIDS Day and the Floyd County Health Department will be offering free testing, information and other resources.

Dr. Gary Voccio, health director for the 10-county Georgia Department of Public Health Northwest District said there has been a disturbing trend regarding HIV infections.

“The last data that the CDC and public health reported was in 2018,” he said.  “It showed there were almost 38,000 HIV cases in the United States with 51% of those cases in the south, and 76% of those were in urban settings.  Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana led with those statistics.”

The good news is, there are ways to prevent infections.

“Public health has access to these preventative medicines as do private physicians,” Dr. Voccio said.  “Public Health will be offering free HIV testing and counseling for World AIDS Day on Wednesday, December 1, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Floyd County Health Department or at Haralson Behavioral Health Services in Bremen.  Remember, every day, you can get a free test.  If you don’t want to get it done at the health department, you can register online and have one mailed to you.”

The website to register for a home test kit is gacapus.com.