US CDC Updates Guidelines on COVID-19 Testing For Asymptomatic People

Guidelines for testing people who do not show symptoms of the novel coronavirus have been updated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Due to the significance of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission, these guidelines further reinforce the need to test asymptomatic persons, including close contacts of a person with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

‘The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidelines for testing people who do not show symptoms of the novel coronavirus.’

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Testing is recommended for all close contacts of persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Because of the potential for asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission, it is important that contacts of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection be quickly identified and tested.

It is a change from the CDC guidelines released last month which said testing might not be necessary for people without symptoms.

On August 24, the CDC changed COVID-19 testing guidelines on its website, no longer recommending testing for most people without symptoms.

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According to a report in The New York Times earlier this week, the recommendation published in August was not written by CDC scientists and was posted to the agency's website despite their serious objections.

According to the CDC website, viral tests are recommended to diagnose acute infection of both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, to guide the contact tracing, treatment options, and isolation requirements.

Updated Guidelines: Even if people do not have any symptoms, they still need a test if they have been in close contact -- such as within 6 feet -- of a person with coronavirus infection for at least 15 minutes.

In areas where there are a small number of new cases and limited spread, the public health department may request a small number of asymptomatic 'healthy people' to be tested.

If there is significant spread of the virus in the community, the public health department may request significant numbers of asymptomatic "healthy people" to be tested in order to help stop the spread of the virus.

Source-Medindia