In this memo, I will be refuting a fact that I stated in my Understanding Gen Z's Potential in the Economy memo from last week.

Before, I stated that Gen Z is struggling to get into relationships because of the setbacks that they've endured in their social skills due to the pandemic. Well, based on the growing number of STD cases in the US (and I assume this applies to the rest of the world), I'm starting to think that maybe that fact is false.

While Chlamydia cases have plunged because of the pandemic, as the economy reopened, cases have started rebounding. As for Gonorrhea, Syphilis, and Congenital Syphilis cases, the number of cases for those STDs continued to break new records despite lockdowns and people having impaired social skills.

It makes no sense why the number of cases for most of these STDs continue to hit new highs when you have researchers saying things like how high schoolers today are having less sex than high schoolers in the early 1990s or that the number of college students participating in sexual activity has been on the decline since the 2000s. I doubt these numbers would primarily come from older people because older people tend to only have sexual relations with their spouse and no one else. If a person gave an STD to their spouse, it would've happened long ago, not in the past few years.

One source says that Gen Z is choosing to find sexual partners through old-school ways. While it's expected that Gen Z would shift dating norms back to the older days, the ones that are going far with those methods in finding partners are those whose social skills were the least affected by the lockdown, which is a minority of Gen Z.

As for teen birth rates, another indicator that would normally correlate with STD cases, that rate has reached a historic low of 13.5% in 2022. One reason for why teen birth rates are diverging from STD cases is that pregnant women aren't being screened and treated for STDs. Because of this, many that may be pregnant don't know if they have an STD or not. This makes the current case numbers of STDs "better" than reality.

For the investors of $PGNY, the rising STDs is bullish for the fertility clinic giant because demand for fertility services only grow higher as people are less able to have kids due to their conditions. As more young people get STDs, Progyny will have more demand for its services coming its way as those people get older and struggle to start a family.

Pharmacy chains like $CVS and $WBA will have to ramp up the supply of at-home STD tests and medications since the demand for these products will only increase. $ABT will probably be the maker of these test kits since they were one of the biggest producers of COVID testing kits. The biotech startups making new and better medicines relating to STDs will see more demand for its products.

Until we see any meaningful reversal in STD cases, which there is no sign if reversal, there is potential for the market for STD treatments to be as big as the market for treating high blood pressure, diabetes, and back problems.

Gen Z is probably more sexually active than previous generations. Good for the demographic future of all countries, but those demographic benefits will be erased with people having more diseases than children.