If you don’t test it and find it, then no one will know it is there. We don’t want to panic the masses, don’t you know!
That’s the only explanation I can come up with.
I think what happened is the scientists at the CDC were convinced they could “build a better mousetrap” than the Italy and South Korea 98.5% effective tests.
Their search for perfection took time. Whether their mousetrap is now perfect—no clue.
Classic case of the perfect is the enemy of the good.
The WH should have told them to stfu—98.5% is good enough—use the Italian and South Korean tests and use them _now_.