CDC reverses Covid-19 testing guidance again

US CDC reports 198,099 deaths from coronavirus

The Trump administration has reversed guidance on Covid-19 testing for a second time, urging those exposed to people with the virus to get tested even if they are not displaying symptoms.

The Covid-19 respiratory disease is caused by the coronavirus.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sparked widespread outcry among state public health officials and experts in late August when it said that people who do not have symptoms may not need to get tested.

Before August 24, the CDC had encouraged testing for all those who were exposed.

Friday’s guidance update effectively returns the CDC’s testing guidance to what it said before it was altered in late August.

Reuters reported that a majority of US states rejected the CDC’s August 24 guidance in an extraordinary rebuke of the nation’s top agency for disease prevention.

The change was made on a webpage aimed at health workers.

“The return to a sciencebased approach to testing guidance from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is good news for public health and for our united fight against this pandemic,” Thomas File, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in a statement.

Some state officials last month said that they thought the administration’s choice to play down the importance of testing reflected a desire by Republican President Donald Trump to cut the tally of new cases.

Trump, who is running for reelection on November 3, told a rally in June testing is a “doubleedged” sword because it leads to more cases being discovered, causing the United States to appear worse off than it would otherwise.

He added that he urged officials to “slow the testing down, please”.

A White House official at the time told Reuters that the remark was a joke.

Trump administration officials denied that the move was political and told Reuters that it reflected “current evidence and best public health practices”.

Yesterday the CDC reported 6,706,374 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 49,575 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 983 to 198,099.

The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.

On Friday Trump said that he expects enough Covid-19 vaccines “for every American” will be produced by next April, and that the first doses will be distributed immediately after approval later this year.

Claiming “historic progress” with three vaccines in the final stages of development and trials, Trump said at least 100mn doses would be manufactured by the end of the year – perhaps more.

“Hundreds of millions of doses will be available every month, and we expect to have enough vaccines for every American by

April,” the president said.

Trump also vowed to get the vaccine out with lightning speed, saying: “I think distribution will go even quicker than most people think.”

Vaccines are seen as one of the top methods for halting the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 950,000 people worldwide, including a global high of 198,000 in the United States.

The president has repeatedly stated that he envisions a safe and effective vaccine approved in the coming weeks, even ahead of the November 3 presidential election.

But that extraordinarily optimistic timeline was called into question by a top government health official this week.

CDC director Robert Redfield testified to lawmakers on Wednesday that a “very limited” distribution to priority groups, including first responders, could begin in November and December, but that full implementation would take many more months at least.

“I think we’re probably looking at late second quarter, third quarter 2021” before a safe and effective vaccine would be broadly available to the general public, he added.

Trump’s Democratic election rival, Joe Biden, also expressed doubt about the timeline, and told voters on Thursday in Pennsylvania that he does not trust Trump to put forward a vaccine absent of political interference.

“I don’t trust the president on vaccines,” Biden said, explaining that he trusts the government’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci instead. “If Fauci says the vaccine is safe, I take the vaccine.”