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Science Sep 17, 2020
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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that people without symptoms should continue to get tested for COVID-19, despite new guidelines put out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week. “I very strongly disagree with what the CDC put out saying that there should not be testing of people without symptoms,” the mayor said. The CDC changed its COVID-19 testing guidelines to say some people without symptoms may not need to be tested, even if they’ve been in close contact with someone who has the virus. Previously, the CDC had said testing was appropriate for people with recent or suspected exposure, even if they were asymptomatic. “This is a devastating virus. Never forget that,” Garcetti said. “If it doesn’t kill you, it can leave you with long-term damage.” L.A. was the first big city to offer widespread testing to non-symptomatic people, the mayor said, allowing 30% of cases to be caught that way. “Often it’s those silent spreaders that have done the most damage,” he said. “We will not stop providing tests for those who don’t have symptoms.” The change in federal testing guidelines was a result of pressure from the upper ranks of the […]
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