Fauci: I Was Under Anesthesia When New CDC Testing Guidelines Posted

Anthony Fauci says the CDC's new COVID-19 testing guidelines were agreed on while he was undergoing surgery.

The guidance changed by the White House Coronavirus Task Force states that healthy people who have been exposed to COVID-19 "do not necessarily need a test," as long as they are asymptomatic.

The CDC posted the new guidelines Monday.

"I was under general anesthesia in the operating room and was not part of any discussion or deliberation regarding the new testing recommendations," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta.

"He went on to say, 'I'm concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations,'" Gupta continued. "'I'm worried it will give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact, it is.' So, Jake, he wasn't part of the deliberations or discussions. And this is a problem."

The CDC estimates that 40% of people with coronavirus are asymptomatic. Fauci was undergoing surgery to remove a polyp from his vocal cord.

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