Coronavirus testing official defends CDC's new testing guidelines

Brett Giroir, the HHS official in charge of Covid-19 testing, defended a controversial change to CDC guidelines this week that says asymptomatic people probably don't need testing, even if they've been exposed to an infected individual. “What we've tried to do is put more responsibility onto public health officials,” Giroir said during a call with reporters. The change has been widely criticized, as experts are concerned it will make it difficult to find and isolate infected individuals.” NIAID head Anthony Fauci told CNN that he was under anesthesia for vocal cord surgery when the task force met to discuss the new guidance, and that he was worried it "will give people the incorrect assumption asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact it is,” he said. Typically, CDC guidelines are annotated with references to scientific papers, public health expert Wafaa El-Sadr told STAT. “That’s the norm, that’s what’s expected,” she said. “I think it really behooves the CDC to put forward the evidence.”