Atlanta, GA - The online guidelines regarding coronavirus of the federal agency the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC updated and now it states that asymptomatic individuals no longer need any testing for COVID-19.
Based on the new recommendation of the CDC, an individual does not need necessary testing unless vulnerable and recommended by the individual's health care provider or by the local public health officials, Fox News reported.
Previous recommendation of the federal agency states that testing is needed for anyone who came in close contact with a positive person for more than 15 minutes despite being asymptomatic.
Last month, the CDC noted that their closest estimation on those infected by COVID-19 that do not show symptoms is around 40% and they emphasized that the pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic as a big factor in the virus' transmission.
When asked about the changes in their online guidelines, the federal agency directed the media to the United States' Department of Health and Human Services or the HHS.
According to NBC New York, Assistant Secretary for Health with the HHS, Adm. Brett P. Giroir, M.D., shared in a statement that the guidance has been updated to deliver current evidence and best practices in the field of public health.
The Assistant Secretary also added that by using the CDC-approved prevention strategies, you can protect not only yourself but also your family especially the most vulnerable ones.
On the other hand, despite the recommendation came from the CDC, still, numerous healthcare professionals were concerned about the update on the strategy.
An infectious disease expert in California, Dr. Ravina Kullar shared that the updated recommendations made by the CDC regarding the unnecessary testing of asymptomatic people despite having contact with a positive person are very alarming as these are the people that should be tested in the population.
She also added that the individuals who came from close contact with someone that has had a virus have a high probability of acquiring it so there is no reason for not testing the individual.
Associate chair of emergency medicine at Northwell/Long Island Jewish in New York, Dr. Fred Davis shared that the new CDC recommendation has a lot of delicate concerns.
Davis emphasized that someone can be infected and transmitting the virus and develop symptoms in the next 3-5 days.
If the update will still be implemented, Davis predicted that there will be an increase of 50% in the transmissions.
The emergency department physician also stated that by testing the possible infected individual, that individual can be an important piece in the contact tracing as it will help identify and reduce the future transmissions.
He also added that testing those individuals with exposure will surely narrow down the contact tracing and limit future infections by recommending proper quarantine.
Member of the Infectious Disease Society of America, Dr. Aaron Glatt who is as a clinician and an epidemiologist also stated that the new recommendation means practical to him, as a negative test is worthless to rule out infection but he stated that testing should still be tried as it is very helpful especially to the contact tracing and a 14-day quarantine should be still required for all exposed individuals.
