New CDC guideline obviates need for COVID-19 retesting

Based on previous guidelines and advice, many business owners have been telling employees who tested positive for COVID-19 to stay away from the workplace until they test negative. New guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, has obviated the need for retesting if certain symptom-based hurdles can be met.

How we got here

Sometimes, obtaining a negative retest after a coronavirus diagnosis can mean waiting weeks and even months. Numerous reasons are contributing to the problem:

• Some people test positive for weeks after fully recovering and no longer being contagious;
• It’s getting harder to schedule a test, and the results are taking longer and longer to come back; and
• The tests themselves are still unreliable, with the "quick" ones having the highest rates of false positives and false negatives.

In the meantime, businesses are seeing an uptick in activity but can’t fill orders or client needs because they have no workers. Some have even had to shut down. It’s therefore very surprising the CDC's new guideline saying a negative test isn’t necessary has flown under the radar.

What new guideline says