Rep. Cisneros Joins Over 80 House Members in Demanding Answers on New CDC Testing Guidelines

WASHINGTON, DC - Representative Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr. (CA-39) joined over 80 House Members in sending a letter to Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Doctor Robert Redfield condemning, urging the immediate halt of, and demanding an explanation for the recent modifications to COVID-19 testing guidelines that suggest not all those exposed to COVID-19 need to be tested. To view the letter, click here.

In their letter, the Members wrote, “Widespread testing is crucial to our public health and safety considering the sustained high rate of spread in the country, the prevalence of asymptomatic cases and our reliance on testing to track the status of the virus in our communities. That is why Congress has appropriated more than $25 billion to ramp up testing efforts with the explicit purpose to research, develop, validate, manufacture, purchase, administer, and expand capacity for testing to ‘effectively monitor and suppress COVID-19 including tests for both active infection and prior exposure.’ Funding was not provided for the purpose of minimizing the case count. Without explanation, it is difficult to comprehend how this updated guidance will work to provide any public health benefits to our country.”

In addition, the Members requested a response from Director Redfield to a series of questions including the political motivations behind these changes, whether officials at the White House requested the CDC to issue this change in guidelines, and if an analysis was conducted regarding the impact of this policy change on communities of color and vulnerable populations.

“Congress has provided funding and public health departments and private partners have worked tirelessly to ensure there is ample testing for our communities, especially the most vulnerable, and we are still falling short,” the Members wrote. “This new guidance is counterproductive to these efforts. Until a sufficient explanation and the answers to our questions are provided that ensures to the public that this new guidance improves the effort to quickly identify the spread of the virus, testing should be expanded, not limited.”