Why did CDC send NYC man home without testing for coronavirus?

NEW YORK (WPVI) -- One man has locked himself in his Brooklyn apartment, trying to get by with a hacking cough and a fever - and a real concern he is infected with the novel coronavirus.

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"The thing that's scary to me, is there's not many cases in New York, but obvious there's people like me who are coming back from places that have a lot of infections," he said.

The man, who will go by 'John' by anonymity, recently spent five days in Tokyo on business. When he returned home this week, he just knew he had a problem.

At NYU Brooklyn, they put him in isolation, and ran a battery of tests for other things - all negative. Then, per protocol, they called the CDC, because NYU Suspect COVID-19, but the CDC said no.

The CDC says they thought he wasn't sick enough - even though public health experts say most coronavirus cases are more minor, and it flies in the face of what the CDC said on a press call on Friday.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on coronavirus

Meanwhile, at a rally in South Carolina on Friday, jam-packed, while other countries are banning large gatherings, President Trump called coronavirus a hoax.

John says he may not even have coronavirus, but wouldn't the government want to know?

"I came in, I'm sick - I have symptoms like coronavirus, but I'm not tested, which means I don't have coronavirus. If you're not testing anybody, then no one's infected, right?" he said.

After he was sent home the first time on Thursday, the CDC added Japan as a country of concern where people should be able to get tested for coronavirus.

John called the hospital again, and said because he is not actually hospitalized, they still can't give him the test. NYU Langone said they were just following guidelines from the CDC.

6abc sister station WABC reached out to the CDC, but they have not yet responded.