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CDC now says most people without symptoms don’t need to be tested

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly updated its COVID-19 testing guidelines online Monday to suggest that people probably don’t need a test, even if they have been in close contact with someone who is infected or if they have attended a large gathering.

The new guidance directly contracts what CDC director Robert Redfield told ABC News last month: "Anyone who thinks they may be infected -- independent of symptoms -- should get a test.”

Redfield’s comments came as political protests erupted and President Donald Trump insisted on large indoor campaign rallies where most attendees didn’t wear masks. The CDC had updated its guidelines in July to specifically urge people without symptoms to get tested if they have come in contact with someone who has COVID-19, such as working the same shift at a job.

But now, the CDC says testing isn’t necessary so long as the individual doesn’t show 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,” the CDC states on its website.

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CDC now says most people without symptoms don’t need to be tested

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The federal government appears to have backtracked on COVID-19 testing guidance, according to a statement released late Wednesday from the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Controversial recommendations posted to the CDC website on Monday suggested people exposed to the coronavirus "do not necessarily need a test" unless they're having symptoms, are older or are otherwise medically vulnerable.

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In the new statement, the CDC's director, Dr. Robert Redfield, now says that "all close contacts of confirmed or probable COVID-19 patients" may consider testing.

"Dr. Redfield appears to have walked back from that a little bit," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

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Despite Redfield's statement, the CDC's website had not changed as of Thursday afternoon.

"I think this is a black eye for the CDC. They've got materials on their website that really can't be scientifically justified," said former CDC Dr. Tom Frieden, who is now president of Resolve to Save Lives, a global public health initiative.

The recommendation from the CDC — which reversed previous advice that anyone exposed to COVID-19 should be tested, even if they weren't symptomatic — was met with backlash.

The White House Coronavirus Task Force finalized the change to the testing guidance one week ago, the day one of its members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was having surgery.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, which Fauci leads, said that Fauci recalled "quickly reviewing a version of the guidelines" that had circulated previously.

"At the time he was not struck by the potential implications of this particular change in the version he reviewed," the spokesperson said. "Now reading them carefully, he has some concern that the revised guidelines could be interpreted as lessening the importance of asymptomatic spread of virus in the community."

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The CDC, which referred calls to the Department of Health and Human Services all day Wednesday, defended the change in a statement from CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield released around 10 p.m. Wednesday night.

“Everyone who needs a COVID-19 test, can get a test. Everyone who wants a test does not necessarily need a test; the key is to engage the needed public health community in the decision with the appropriate follow-up action,” Redfield said, adding italics in the written statement for emphasis.

He added that “testing may be considered for all close contacts of confirmed or probable COVID-19 patients,” but stopped short of recommending it for those without symptoms. He said anyone who has been in contact with a confirmed or probable Covid-19 patient should consult a health-care provider to determine if a test is needed.

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“Let me tell you, right up front that the new guidelines are a CDC action,” he said, adding that members of the White House coronavirus task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Redfield, discussed and agreed on the new guidelines.

But Fauci later told CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, that he “was under general anesthesia in the operating room and was not part of any discussion or deliberation regarding the new testing recommendations.”

The New York Times reported later Wednesday that two federal health officials said the CDC was pressured into changing the guidance from top officials at the White House and HHS.

“There was no weight on the scales by the president or the vice president or Secretary Azar,” Giroir said on the call, referring to HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “We all signed off on it, the docs, before it ever got to a place where the political leadership would have even seen it, and this document was approved by the task force by consensus.”

It remains unclear exactly where the new guidance originated, though Giroir said it was a “CDC action.” Regardless of who is responsible for the updated guidance, a former CDC director, epidemiologists and medical associations have criticized the update as a setback in efforts to fight the coronavirus in the U.S.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association called for the “immediate reversal” of the update in a joint statement.

“It is essential that public health guidelines be rooted in the best available scientific evidence,” the two groups said. “Testing asymptomatic individuals who have been exposed to a person with COVID-19 remains a critical evidence-based strategy for containing the pandemic and reducing transmission.”

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o the new guidelines mean they've stopped testing all the asymptomatic people at the White House, including the president, right?