Trump Administration Won’t Retest People to Prove They No Longer Have Coronavirus

The Trump administration will issue guidance saying that people who’ve tested positive for Covid-19 don’t need to be retested in order to show they no longer have the virus. The move comes amid mounting criticism of poor testing capacity in the U.S.

White House Coronavirus Czar Admiral Brett Giroir denied the decision had anything to do with testing shortages but critics are bound to be skeptical.

“This is a remnant of very early on when we had cruise ships and people in quarantine that said the first way to get out of quarantine was to have two negative tests 24 hours apart,” Giroir said.

“That is no longer needed, and it is medically unnecessary.”

People in high risk categories, such as the immunocompromised, should get retested, however.

“Those are the ones you consult your health care provider,” Giroir said.

“If you are an individual who is not hospitalized and have COVID and are isolating at home, you do not need to be retested, period,” he said.

Giroir said retesting was “clogging up the system”