In alarming move, CDC says people exposed to COVID-19 do not need testing [Updated]

Enlarge / Signage outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, March 14, 2020. (credit: Bloomberg | Getty Images)

Second update 8/26/2020 3:00pm: In a press briefing Wednesday afternoon, Admiral Brett Giroir-Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services and lead for COVID-19 diagnostic testing efforts-emphatically defended the changes to the CDC's testing recommendation, saying that it came from public health experts at the CDC and was evidence based. There was no direction" from the president, vice president, or other top Trump Administration officials, he said.

As for the changes themselves, Adm. Giroir said the decision to not recommend testing for COVID-19 exposed individuals without symptoms was intended to avoid testing too early after an exposure. This could provide a negative result before an infection has had enough time develop and register as positive on a test, thus giving an exposed person a false-assurance of being uninfected.

It's still unclear why the CDC did not instead provide a recommended time-frame for asymptomatic testing after an exposure, particularly given that some infected people may never develop symptoms. A positive test result is necessary to ensure COVID-19 patients receive proper care, isolation instructions, and appropriate follow-up. Identifying patients through testing is also critical for contact tracing. After a person tests positive, contact tracers can inform people who may have been exposed to the COVID-19 positive person before they tested positive and/or went into quarantine.

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