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The United States has had almost seven million confirmed cases of Covid-19
US health officials have responded to controversial advice issued last month that said people without Covid-19 symptoms should not be tested.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now say that anyone in close contact with a known infected person should be tested.
Friday’s “clarification” returns the CDC’s stance on testing to its previous guidance, before the August amendment.
The reports said that the scientists had not given the controversial advice.
Sources cited by the New York Times said it had been posted on the CDC website despite objections from experts.
Most US states rejected the guidance, Reuters reported, in a harsh rebuke to the nation’s top disease prevention agency.
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Some observers suggested that the controversial move could have reflected President Donald Trump’s desire to reduce the growing number of Covid-19 cases.
At a rally in June, Trump told supporters that he had urged officials to “delay testing, please.” A White House official dismissed the comment as a joke.
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However, administration officials denied any political motives, telling Reuters the change reflected “current evidence and best public health practices.”
Experts welcomed the change of course on Friday.
“The return to a science-based approach to testing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is good news for public health and for our united fight against this pandemic,” said Thomas File, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
In its “testing overview” for healthcare workers, the CDC now says, “Because of the importance of asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission, this guide further reinforces the need to screen asymptomatic people, including contacts close to a person with documented SARS-CoV. -2 infection “.
He advises people to get tested “if they have been in close contact, for example, within 6 feet of a person with a documented SARS-CoV-2 infection for at least 15 minutes and have no symptoms.”
The United States has registered nearly seven million cases of coronavirus, more than a fifth of the world’s total. It has the highest death toll in the world, with nearly 200,000 dead.
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