Controversial coronavirus-testing guidelines posted on the CDC website that said asymptomatic people don’t need to get tested even if they have been exposed to the virus were not actually written by the CDC, the New York Times reported Thursday, and were posted over the objections of CDC scientists. Citing internal documents and sources familiar with the matter, the Times said the Department of Health and Human Services rewrote the testing guidelines in late August and “dropped” them into the CDC’s website without proper vetting. The recommendation contained numerous errors, the Times reported, and was inconsistent with the CDC’s messaging, especially as asymptomatic people are considered major vectors of COVID-19’s spread. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quickly walked back the new guidelines after an uproar. A new version of testing guidelines is expected to be announced Friday, the Times said, which also has been revised by the HHS and has apparently not been properly vetted. The incident appears to be yet another instance of the politicalization of an historically apolitical agency, which threatens to undermine its credibility during the worst pandemic in a century.