CDC Reportedly Reversing Much-Criticized Guidelines on Not Testing Asymptomatic People

Tami Chappel/AFP/Getty Images

You may remember a few weeks ago, the CDC guidelines were updated to say that asymptomatic people didn’t need to be tested for the coronavirus, even if they had been exposed to it.

That change came under serious scrutiny last month, and just last night the New York Times reported that the change “was not written by C.D.C. scientists and was posted to the agency’s website despite their serious objections.” One official said, “That was a doc that came from the top down, from the H.H.S. and the task force. That policy does not reflect what many people at the C.D.C. feel should be the policy.”

On Friday, the CDC reportedly reversed those guidelines to emphasize that asymptomatic people do need to get tested as well.

Per the New York Times:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reversed a recommendation suggesting that people who have had close contact with a person infected with the coronavirus do not need to get tested if they have no symptoms…

The previous phrasing, which suggested asymptomatic people who have had close contact with an infected individual “do not necessarily need a test,” now clearly instructs them: “You need a test.”

The news of the reversal came prior to a new Times report detailing what current and former officials at the CDC described as “a five-month campaign of bullying and intimidation” from then-HHS officials Michael Caputo and Dr. Paul Alexander.

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