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Lansing Council Members Tested On World AIDS Day

HIV test photo
Scott Pohl
/
WKAR-MSU
Nhoua Yang of LAAN draws blood from Lansing city council vice president Carol Wood for an HIV test as council president Patricia Spitzlehy looks on.

To mark World AIDS Day, several members of the Lansing city council are publicly being tested for HIV today.

The HIV tests of Patricia Spitzley and Carol Wood.

Council president Patricia Spitzley and vice president Carol Wood invited reporters to watch as they were tested in council offices in City Hall.

Nhoua Yang, a prevention specialist with the Lansing Area AIDS Network, conducted the tests. Both Spitzley and Wood tested negative for HIV.

Councilmember Jody Washington had also planned to publicly undergo HIV testing later in the day at the Unity Spiritual Center on Holmes Street.

According to the Lansing Area AIDS Network, Ingham County trails only metro Detroit in HIV prevalence. In 2016, 28 were newly diagnosed with HIV in the county.

Scott Pohl is a general assignment news reporter and produces news features and interviews. He is also an alternate local host on NPR's "Morning Edition."
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