Health experts were left reeling this week by abrupt new guidance from the CDC that said not everyone exposed to COVID-19 necessarily needs to take a precautionary test if they aren't showing symptoms. There might be a reason, though, why the new recommendation "makes no sense" — White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci was literally unconscious when the decision was made.
"I was under general anesthesia in the operating room and was not part of any discussion or deliberation regarding the new testing recommendations," Fauci told CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He added: "I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried it will give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact it is."
The CDC's new guidance allegedly resulted from pressure from the Trump administration, CNN adds — but the deliberations happened Thursday of last week, while Fauci was having surgery to remove a polyp on his vocal cord.
Previously, testing was recommended "for all close contacts of persons with COVID-19," in order to curb asymptomatic transmission.