[rolph]

when you conduct the assay you are handling a known pathogen

doing that without proper training equipment and expertise should be discouraged, even if it isnt the original intent of the restriction it does seem to reduce a possible avenue of amplification of the problem

[Reelin]

The thing is, you're already dealing with a patient that might be infected and medical testing labs already process potentially infectious samples on a daily basis.

The CDC has actually issued official guidance regarding Coronavirus biosafety. [1] Other than discouraging unnecessary culturing of the virus, BSL-2 (a fairly common setup) is the main recommendation.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/biosafety-faqs...