Trump administration officials reportedly pressured CDC to change COVID-19 testing guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reportedly released controversial new guidelines on COVID-19 testing after being pressured to do so by top Trump administration officials.

In an updated guidance this week, the CDC said those exposed to COVID-19 but who don't have symptoms do not "necessarily need a test," unless they're in a vulnerable group or their health-care provider or state or local officials recommend they get tested. This came after the CDC was "instructed by higher-ups within the Trump administration" to make the change, The New York Times reports.

The new guidelines were reportedly "not written by the CDC but were imposed," the Times also writes. CNN previously reported the same, quoting one official as saying, "it's coming from the top down."

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Experts had raised concerns about the CDC's decision to reverse its earlier guidance, which said anyone in close contact with someone infected with COVID-19 should be tested. Dr. Carl Bergstrom described the new guidelines as "remarkable and troubling," and said not testing asymptomatic people would make contact tracing impossible. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) also slammed the change as "indefensible," saying New York is "not going to follow" the updated guidance because "I consider it political propaganda." California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said on Wednesday that his state "will not be influenced by that change," either.

President Trump has previously suggested the U.S. should conduct fewer tests in order to lower reported coronavirus case numbers. Trump administration coronavirus testing czar Admiral Brett Giroir defended the change to the Times, saying, "This was a product produced by the scientific and medical people that was discussed extensively at the task force."