Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
Several large U.S. states are not heeding new federal health officials’ calls to reduce COVID-19 testing of some exposed to the virus (Source: “California, Florida, New York, and Texas will not Follow New U.S. COVID-19 Testing Plan,” Reuters, August 27, 2020).
Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, and New York all plan to continue to test asymptomatic people who have been exposed to COVID-19, despite new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggesting that such tests may not be needed.
The CDC said last week that people exposed to COVID-19 but not symptomatic may not need to be tested, shocking doctors and politicians and prompting accusations the guidance was politically motivated. Even before the CDC guidance, coronavirus testing in the United States had dropped. The United States tested on average 675,000 people a day last week, down from a peak in late July of over 800,000 people a day.