Somewhere around April I think, the urgent care clinic I work at was told by the CDC to send in fewer tests. You& #39;re overwhelming the lab, we were told. Only test people who meet strict criteria. At the time I thought this was just incompetence. Now I& #39;m not sure.
For a long time the criteria included "you can only test people who& #39;ve been in contact with someone who tested positive," which for an infection that can often be asymptomatic, is obviously nonsensical. I thought this was mere incompetence, too.