Yes, they are literally trying to kill you

 I'll link to Dr. Black, rather than directly to the NYT, because of the paywall:

 

A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by C.D.C. scientists and was posted to the agency’s website despite their serious objections, according to several people familiar with the matter as well as internal documents obtained by The New York Times.

The guidance said it was not necessary to test people without symptoms of Covid-19 even if they had been exposed to the virus. It came at a time when public health experts were pushing for more testing rather than less, and administration officials told The Times that the document was a C.D.C. product and had been revised with input from the agency’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield.

In addition to his commentary, let me add a bit of my own, in case there is any misunderstanding. The precise reason why this particular virus has become such a catastrophe is that it is transmissible by people without symptoms.  Something like 40% of people who test positive or would test positive -- that is, who have enough viral DNA in their sinuses to register on the test -- never get symptoms, or they get only non-specific symptoms that they don't necessarily attribute to Covid-19. Most adults do develop symptoms of varying severity, but they are particularly infectious in the three days or so before they do. The simplest takeaway is that you want to test anybody who is known to have been exposed because they might be currently without symptoms but infectious, in which case they should be isolated so as to protect others.

That ought to be obvious, but it also creates a good deal of confusion and very stupid arguments, having to do with the definition of a "case" and the case fatality rate. The insane idiots who are running the country right now don't want people to be tested because they think if there are fewer tests there will be fewer reported "cases" and that will make them look good. But in fact, if you don't test people without symptoms there will ultimately be more symptomatic cases and more dead people. On top of that, as we now know, coming out of Covid-19 alive does not necessarily mean that everything is hunky dory, because lot of people are ending up with organ damage, long term illness and possibly permanent disability. We don't really know how many yet but it seems to be a lot, and you don't need to have so-called "severe" illness for that to happen.

That impinges on your freedom a whole lot more than wearing a mask in public does, or not being able to go to a bar. And not being able to go to a bar is not as bad as slavery. Which is why it is actually very puzzling that not wearing a mask has become a symbol of loyalty to Dear Leader. More sick people and more dead people does not make him look good. And we could be talking about your mother, assuming you care. This is inane, yes, and stupid, yes. But it is also profoundly evil. Psychopathic, in fact.