Even though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention altered its guidelines for who can be tested for SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, NPR writes that it may still be difficult to get tested.
Last week, the CDC issued an updated testing guidance that said clinicians should use their judgment to gauge whether someone is exhibiting symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and base testing decisions on that. Previously, its guidelines largely limited testing to individuals who had symptoms and traveled abroad to an affected area or had been in close contact with an infected person.
But NPR notes that even with this update, some patients still won't be tested. It reports that public health labs have a limited testing capacity and are turning some doctors' requests down. It adds that Alex Azar, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has said that 1 million tests have been shipped, but that it is unclear where those tests are.