US President Donald Trump’s administration posted controversial recommendations on coronavirus testing to the website of the country’s health agency against the objections of its scientists, according to a New York Times report citing people familiar with the matter and internal documents.
The guidelines, which said testing was not necessary for people who were exposed to COVID-19 but not displaying symptoms, were criticised when they were issued last month.
That is because healthcare experts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the time were pushing for more, not less, testing to help track and control the spread of the respiratory disease that has now killed almost 200,000 people in the country.
The reversal shocked doctors and politicians and prompted accusations of political interference. But Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – the CDC’s parent – said at the time the goal was…
