Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi blasted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for new guidelines on COVID-19 testing that recommend against testing people who were exposed to the virus but don’t have symptoms.
“The CDC guidelines that they put forth are scary and dangerous,” the California Democrat said on a conference call hosted by the Democratic National Committee.
The CDC guidelines now read: “If you have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms, you do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or State or local public health officials recommend you take one.”
Previously, the CDC recommended testing “for all close contacts of persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
Outside public health experts have raised the fear that pressure from the Trump administration could be the impetus for the new guidelines. In June, President Trump said that more testing “creates more cases.”
Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease specialist and the associate dean of Emory University School of Medicine, told CNN, “I am worried that this is just a way to slow down testing, and that would clearly be not good.”
