A recent analysis of sexually transmitted disease rates found Elkhart County doing ok compared to other counties around the country, but the county’s health officer isn’t at all satisfied.
A data analysis released this week by telehealth company Invigor Medical found Elkhart County's sexually transmitted disease rate ranked 204th out of the nation's 345 counties with at least 200,000 residents. That means 60% of counties had higher rates than Elkhart.
State data for Elkhart County show the total number of STDs held mostly steady each year from 2019 through 2023.
But County Health Officer Melanie Sizemore says that means the community is losing.
Particularly worrisome, Sizemore says, is the fact that the county health department’s Sexually Transmitted Infection Clinic saw 756 patients last year, and has already seen 754 people just half-way through this year.
From interviews with patients, Sizemore points to two factors. The first is online dating or hookup apps.
“It allows people to have sort of random sex or anonymous sex,” Sizemore says.
The second problem, she says, is too many young adults today not using condoms.
Sizemore says it's not like the '80s when people feared dying of HIV. Today HIV can be managed with medication.
“It’s not like when I was a kid and we discovered HIV, and how everybody was scared," she says. "It’s different now. The mindset is different amongst younger people. I just have to go to the doctor and get whatever medicine I need.”
