COVID19 Update - Day 169

US Tests: 74,050,153*

US Cases: 5,793,243*

US Deaths: 171,602*

Worldwide Cases: 24,088,692*

Worldwide Deaths: 824,368*

* - Numbers are a lower bound.  True numbers are being suppressed by the Trump administration

Apparently 170,000+ deaths aren't enough for Trump.  Today the CDC abruptly changed its guidance on coronavirus testing:

After weeks of encouraging people to get tested if they may have been exposed to COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly changed course this week and is now telling the public testing might not be necessary.

The change in guidance, while voluntary, could dramatically decrease the number of tests conducted in the U.S. at a time when public health officials have said they are seriously concerned about young people without symptoms transmitting the virus.

Medical professionals and public health experts swiftly pushed back, calling the move baffling and dangerous because it would reduce the country's visibility on the virus ahead of flu season.

"The people in the trenches are horrified by this," a person who works with the White House coronavirus task force told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl. "It gives the impression that asymptomatic people cannot transmit the disease, which is not true. Community spread is driven by asymptomatic people."

Of course the White House denies that the CDC was pressured in any way, but at this stage of the Trump presidency, the White House has negative credibility, if that's possible.  Trump plainly stated over a month ago that he wanted to slow down testing, and this new directive does just that.

Also, there's this fascinating tidbit:

"I worked on them. Dr. Fauci worked on them. Dr. Birx worked on them. Dr. Hahn worked on them. Dr. Atlas provided input. So, it's kind of hard to know how much was written by one person at this time, but it was a CDC product with lots of editing. Lots of input probably over about a month period of time," Giroir said.

At one point, Giroir noted "we all signed off on it, the docs" before political leaders saw it.

Fauci, though, said he did not personally sign off on the new guidance. The revisions were approved during a task force meeting on Aug. 20 -- the same day Fauci was under general anesthesia for surgery to remove a polyp from his vocal cords.

Sure these guidelines are certain to result in more coronavirus cases, as more asymptomatic people unknowingly spread the disease.  And sure, that means there will be more deaths.  And sure, these new regulations were hustled through at a time when it was guaranteed that the one person who has been resolute in upholding fact-based policy was unavailable to object to them.

But!  It WILL make the number of REPORTED coronavirus cases go down --- for a few weeks, anyway --- and that's what really matters!