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The Story of Surveillance

AIDS activists in New York fight against reporting the names and information of people diagnosed.

Date: 1981

The Story of Surveillance
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As the HIV/AIDS pandemic emerges, public health officials in New York City want to report the names and personal information of patients with a positive status, which is otherwise known as "contact tracing."

AIDS activists fight for confidentiality. Queer folks and Black and Latinx injection drug users challenge "reporting standards by demanding a role in shaping what that surveillance might look like and how it might benefit the most vulnerable affected communities" (Castro, 2020).