Top U.S. officials told CDC to soften coronavirus testing guidelines

Scientists say CDC’s revised COVID-19 guidance—that people without symptoms of the novel coronavirus may not need to be tested—could affect an already weak federal response at a time when hundreds of thousands of students are returning to school and businesses are reopening. Experts say the United States needs more COVID-19 testing, not less. According to Adm. Brett P. Giroir, the administration’s coronavirus testing czar, the shift was a “CDC action,” created with input from CDC director Robert R. Redfield, MD. He noted the revision followed vigorous debate among members of the White House coronavirus task force. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said in an interview he had seen an early version of the guidelines, but the final debate over the revisions took place at a task force meeting when he was having surgery under general anesthesia to remove a polyp on his vocal cord. He said, in retrospect, he now had “some concerns” about advising people against getting tested, as the virus can be spread through asymptomatic contact. Under the CDC’s latest guidance, people who had been in close contact with an infected individual—usually defined as being within six feet of a person with the coronavirus and for at least 15 minutes—”do not necessarily need a test” if they do not have symptoms.” Exceptions to that might be made for “vulnerable” individuals, or if health care providers or state or local public health officials recommended testing, CDC said. Giroir said the new recommendation goes along with existing guidance for hospital workers and others in frontline positions who have “close exposures” to individuals infected with the coronavirus. He said the tests capture only a single point in time and the results could give individuals a false sense of security.