The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dramatically expanded the testing criteria for the novel coronavirus today. The CDC formally removed earlier restrictions that limited coronavirus testing of the general public to people in the hospital, unless they had a close contact with a confirmed coronavirus case.
According to the CDC, clinicians should now “use their judgment to determine if a patient has signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 and whether the patient should be tested.”
The new criteria formalizes Vice President Mike Pence’s announcement, made Tuesday night, that “any American can be tested (for coronavirus), no restrictions, subject to doctors’ orders.”
Unless a patient had close contact with a confirmed coronavirus patient, the earlier criteria limited testing to people who had been hospitalized with both a fever and respiratory symptoms.
Some context: Questions remain about whether the United States can meet a possible surge in testing demand.
Two coronavirus tests in the United States currently have Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorizations and are in use nationwide. These include CDC test kits, which have been distributed to public health laboratories across the country, and another test designed and used by New York state.
Under rules issued Feb. 29, the FDA is also allowing hospitals, private companies and laboratories to develop other diagnostic tests that can be used before the FDA issues an emergency use authorization.