- The Center for Disease Control quietly modified its testing guidelines on Monday and no longer requires people who are asymptomatic to get tested for the virus.
- Experts are concerned this will hinder our understanding of the true scope of the outbreak in the US.
- Last week, the World Health Organization said the virus is mainly being spread by young people who are unaware that they are infected.
- In July, the CDC itself said that 40% of people infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic and that the transmission rate from those who show no symptoms was 75%.
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People who are exposed to a person with coronavirus but are asymptomatic are no longer encouraged to get tested for the coronavirus, the Center for Disease Control said in subtly modified testing guidelines released on Tuesday.
The CDC now says that anyone who has been within six feet of someone who has COVID-19 for at least 15 minutes, or is in a high coronavirus transmission area and has attended public or private gatherings for more than 10 people without widespread physical distancing and mask-wearing, is not required to test for the virus unless they’re in an at-risk population.
As a caveat, the newly released guidelines also state: “It is important to realize that you can be infected and spread the virus but feel well and have no symptoms.”
Experts told The New York Times they’re concerned about the revision because it’s important to identify infection before there are symptoms as that’s when people are most contagious.
Last week, the World Health Organization said the virus is mainly being spread by young people who are unaware that they are infected.
“The epidemic is changing,” WHO’s Western Pacific regional director, Takeshi Kasai, said at a virtual briefing reported Reuters.
“People in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are increasingly driving the spread,” he said. “Many are unaware they are infected. This increases the risk of spillovers to the more vulnerable.”
In July, the CDC itself estimated that 40% of people infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic. Additionally, the agency said that the chance of transmission from those who show no symptoms was 75%.
“This is potentially dangerous,” Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician in Palo Alto, California told the Times.
Kuppalli said that restricting the testing just to those who are showing symptoms means “you’re not looking for a lot of people who are potential spreaders of disease.”
A representative from the HHS told the Times: “The decision to be tested should be one made in collaboration with public health officials or your health care provider based on individual circumstances and the status of community spread.”