CDC now says testing may not be needed after exposure

(KYMA, KECY)-The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reverses its guidelines and says healthy people who have been exposed to the virus "do not necessarily need to get tested."

CDC quietly tweaked its guidelines on Monday as a reversal from previous advice that clearly recommended testing for all close contacts of infected individuals, regardless of whether they had symptoms.

But will this new guidance prevent people from getting tested even if they have a known exposure?

The answer is simple.

Angela Rasmussen, a research scientist at Columbia Public Health in New York City says, "We need more testing, not less."

So what exactly is exposure? According to NBC News, exposure is considered spending more than 15 minutes in close contact — meaning closer than 6 feet — with a person who has COVID-19.

The new recommendation excludes vulnerable individuals, such as older adults and people with chronic medical conditions, who should still be tested after exposure. It also says that state and local health officials may even recommend a test.

However, not all experts see the new guidelines in a negative way. Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security says, "I agree that reflex testing of anybody with a significant exposure is unnecessary and not the best policy. Those individuals with significant exposures should self-quarantine for 14 days."

Sources say research has shown that COVID-19 can be spread via asymptomatic people. Easing up testing of those patients would have massive implications for standard practice in controlling infectious disease outbreaks: contact tracing.