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Comment by mensetmanusman | Hacker News Reader

Interesting how different cultures try to deal with those that spread sickness. Places like California have recently decriminalized spreading STI/Ds, but I wonder if they would deal with respiratory infections differently due to politicization of health.

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> Places like California have recently decriminalized spreading STI/Ds

If you're referring to SB 239, which passed in 2017, it did not decriminalize spreading STIs. It converted knowingly transmitting HIV to a misdemeanor, with the penalty changing from 3 years in prison to 6 months.

Effectively, it removed the special-cased extra penalties for HIV, and brought it in line hepatitis, syphilis, etc.

To add to this, it's a perfectly justified change. HIV is significantly less harmful these days.

At one time, contacting HIV was only a matter of time until you developed AIDS, after which you could expect to have a life of increasing suffering and early death. A large part of your sex life is permanently eliminated, lest you spread the virus.

Today it is entirely possible to contract HIV and not develop AIDS. Should you develop AIDS, the prognosis is significantly less grim. It is also possible to maintain normal sexual relationships without causing viral spread.

Since HIV is no longer a death sentence it no longer makes rational sense for the legal system to treat it as one.

On an even more positive note, mRNA research is amazing and there may be an HIV vaccine as soon as this decade. The last person to die of AIDS may have already been born!

That's absurd. So what if nobody has to die from AIDS? It's still a life changing thing that means being on expensive medication permanently. Spreading it knowingly should be a crime. If I go around stabbing people in non-lethal locations, should I only be charged with a misdemeanor?

> A large part of your sex life is permanently eliminated, lest you spread the virus.

Please tell us who you think is willing to have sex with someone carrying HIV.

It's outside of my risk profile, but the common refrain today is "undetectable == untransmissible", which is assured by routine medical checkups[where they try to detect viral load] and a daily dose of drugs[which suppresses the virus]. Some people may find that to be acceptable in order to have sex with someone carrying HIV. Safer sex should be encouraged in most circumstances.

Spreading HIV is a crime—as 'favorited says, it’s a misdemeanor, on par with knowingly spreading other similar diseases.

(And stabbing someone non-lethally can also be a misdemeanor, by the sounds of it: https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/penal-code/245a1/)

> Please tell us who you think is willing to have sex with someone carrying HIV.

Enough people that a major dating platform has a profile section dedicated to it.

https://help.grindr.com/hc/en-us/articles/230077107-Undetect...

Have you never heard of PrEP?

Felony -> misdemeanor is a much decriminalization as reducing police funding is "defund the police".

If it's only for HIV, it's indefensibly inappropriate to report it as decriminalizing all STDs.

California specifically lowered the criminal penalty for knowingly spreading HIV because the data showed that the risk of felony conviction had a cooling effect on folks willing to get tested and treated. The medical community generally supports these measures as they are shown to be more effective at combating HIV. These findings have been born out in studies all around the world.

https://www.statnews.com/2022/08/11/decriminalizing-hiv-scie...

We had several such non-adherent communicable cases in the California jurisdiction I used to work for and I was in court to handle them. However, how the case is approached varies greatly on the judge. One spent the entire duration of his treatment in custody and I reviewed the records and made recommendations. Others were released, one with an ankle monitor, and I reported back on their progress.

There are specific laws about TB in California, just as there are in Washington, and we run free TB clinics and free directly observed therapy so that there is no financial reason they can't finish their treatment. No one wants them in jail and no one wants to stigmatize them for having an illness they didn't do anything to deserve, but they can't walk around untreated either. TB is unpredictably contagious and can be very difficult to treat in the multi-drug resistant form. When it gets to the point of criminal prosecution, I guarantee virtually every opportunity has been given to them to get it taken care of.

> I wonder if they would deal with respiratory infections differently

After the covid situation, starting this conversation will take someone bold.

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