UPDATED: This Map Shows Where and Who Coronavirus Has Hit the Hardest This Week in PR

The local Medical Task Force will evaluate new CDC guidelines, which now say asymptomatic people exposed to the coronavirus may not need to be tested.

SAN JUAN — Lorenzo González, secretary of Puerto Rico’s Health Department, criticized the changes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made on Monday to their latest COVID-19 guidelines, which now state that asymptomatic people “do not necessarily need a test” even if they were exposed to an infected person.

“The fact that the CDC varies in its regulations or positions is often a disservice. After we have educated the population to behave a certain way, then a different policy is generated from the entity that regulates all of us,” González said during a news conference.

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The health department secretary participated in the news conference virtually because he is in quarantine after coming into contact with an infected person. On Thursday he said his test results were negative.

González said the local Medical Task Force is evaluating the CDC’s new recommendations before putting them in practice.

“At this time there is no change in posture. We discussed everything the CDC recommended with our scientists to then determine how we might amend or change our position,” González said.

As of Friday, the health department reported 14,726 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 17,262 possible cases. The island’s death toll is 424. Of those deaths, 280 are confirmed coronavirus deaths and 144 are from symptoms similar to a COVID infection. There are 409 people hospitalized.

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On Thursday, the Health Department launched an educational campaign called “El COVID-19 no discrimina” (COVID-19 does not discriminate) that promotes its safety measures against the novel virus.

“We recognize the urgency of developing a campaign aimed at educating and guiding citizens about COVID-19 and the consequences of contagion,” González said in a press release.

Puerto Rico has been dealing with an uptick in infections for over a month. The contagion numbers are higher this week, as was expected after hundreds of citizens risked exposure to the virus when they voted in primaries that took place on two days, Aug. 9 and Aug. 16, due to the lack of paper ballots on the first day. 

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Mapping Out the 14,726 Confirmed Cases as of Aug. 28

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