Sideline the CDC

The CDC now says that close contacts of people diagnosed with COVID-19 might not need to be tested if they do not have symptoms. Previously, the agency had recommended testing for all close contacts of people diagnosed with COVID-19.

  alJazeera

Might not?

Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said the goal was "appropriate testing" and not more testing, and that there was no political pressure from the administration behind the decision.

Bullshit. So are we just supposed to believe he woke up one day and realized he was wrong?

"This was a product produced by the scientific and medical people that was discussed extensively at the task force," said Giroir. The task force is led by Vice President Mike Pence.

That doesn't explain the reversal, unless he's saying that he made the original recommendation before getting the " scientific and medical people" and the task force involved.

CNN and The New York Times reported on Wednesday that US public health officials were ordered by high-level members of the Trump administration to go ahead with the changes.

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"Suggesting that people without symptoms, who have known exposure to COVID-positive individuals, do not need testing is a recipe for community spread and more spikes in coronavirus," AMA President Susan Bailey said in a statement.

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Giroir had said that tests of asymptomatic people conducted too early to accurately detect the virus can lead to a false sense of security and potentially help spread the virus.

That may be true. So don't test them too early, but test them, ffs.

Health experts also warned that the move could hurt contact tracing efforts to prevent virus spread.

Oh. Who would have thought? Jesus.

Anthony Fauci, the top US government infectious disease expert and member of the coronavirus task force, told CNN he had been undergoing surgery when the change was discussed, and was concerned about the move.

"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. In fact, it is," he said.

[...]

The latest US count showed that the country has diagnosed 5.8 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 180,000 people have died. Almost 2.1 million have recovered.

How many of those 2.1 million have long-term serious side effects?

On Wednesday, California announced a deal with diagnostics firm PerkinElmer to nearly double the state's testing capacity.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also quickly challenged the assertion that politics played no role in the change.

"We need public health people who do public health and not politics, and we’re going to disregard the CDC guidance totally," he told MSNBC.

Good for them. Hopefully, you live in a "blue" state during this pandemic.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.