Photo: Photonews via Getty Images This week, the CDC modified its COVID-19 testing guidelines to suggest that people who don’t have symptoms don’t need to get tested, even if they’ve been recently exposed, unless they’re vulnerable or have been told to do so by a doctor. After considerable criticism from public-health officials, CDC director Robert R.
The change appears to have been directed by the White House coronavirus task force, and while Brett P. Giroir, the administration’s coronavirus testing czar, said there was no pressure from President Trump or Vice-President Pence, Trump has made repeated public calls for decreased testing. Health officials have said the directive came from Washington, but Giroir added that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, signed off on the change.
“I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried it will give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern,” Fauci said. “In fact it is.” It’s thought that asymptomatic spread may account for almost half of all COVID-19 transmission. Frequent testing of asymptomatic individuals has been an effective tool in reducing transmission worldwide.
The only “downside” to increased testing is political: It looks bad that we have the worst COVID-19 epidemic in the world, and it is bad. Trump is correct that more testing equals more positively identified cases, but only because tests capture what is already here. Elsewhere in the world, having that information is seen as essential to fighting the virus where it appears.
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