Reverse it, now: Infectious disease experts slam CDC’s COVID-19 testing change

Enlarge / Admiral Brett Giroir, US assistant secretary for health, from left, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), listen during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, DC, July 31, 2020. (credit: Getty | Erin Scott)

Intense backlash from medical and infectious disease experts continues over revisions to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 testing recommendations, which as of this week discourage testing for people who have been exposed to the virus but are not showing symptoms.

In a joint statement late Wednesday, the Infectious Diseases Society of American (IDSA) and the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) called for the immediate reversal of the abrupt revision" by the CDC.

In a separate statement, Susan Bailey, president of the American Medical Association-the nation's largest organization of doctors-called the revision to the testing guidance a recipe for community spread and more spikes in coronavirus."

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