The Centers for Disease Control have changed their recommendations regarding the testing of those who have been in contact with people who have contracted COVID-19. "This is just nuts, frankly," offered Dr. Nancy Nielsen, Senior Associate Dean for Health Policy at UB's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
The new guidelines say testing is no longer needed for those who have had contact with somebody who has tested positive for the coronavirus. Nielsen says that flies in the face of the basic scientific understanding of how the virus spreads. "We know that forty percent (of those who have contracted the virus) are asymptomatic and they can transmit the virus."
While Nielsen wonders if the move is politically motivated, she's glad that not all health authorities are following the CDC. "Now, luckily, our state and our local health departments are very clear that contacts of known positives are going to be tested."
