A majority of US states have rejected new Trump administration COVID-19 testing guidance in an extraordinary rebuke of the nation's top agency for disease prevention, according to officials at state health agencies and public statements reviewed by Reuters.

Shoppers wearing face masks visit a Costco wholesale store in Washington DC, the United States, August 14. A new ensemble forecast published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has projected up to 200,000 total COVID-19 deaths in the US by September 5. Photo:Xinhua

At least 33 states continue to recommend testing people who have been exposed to COVID-19 and have no symptoms, spurning guidance published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday that said testing may be unnecessary. Sixteen states did not immediately respond to requests for comment and North Dakota said it had not made a decision.

Among the states breaking with the federal government are conservative-leaning Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona.

Public health experts said a rupture of this magnitude with the CDC may be unprecedented and shows deepening distrust of the Trump administration and its response to the pandemic.

"This is states almost all-out rebelling against the new guidelines," said Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The CDC said on August 24 that people exposed to COVID-19 but not symptomatic "do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or State or local public health officials recommend you take one."

Previously, the CDC had  recommended testing of all people who had close contact with someone who was diagnosed with COVID-19. That remains the policy of at least 30 states. Some that have not changed policy said they were studying the CDC guidance.

Admiral Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at HHS, said in a statement to Reuters that the guidance "has been updated to reflect current evidence and best public health practices, and to further emphasize using CDC-approved prevention strategies."

He said it places emphasis on testing individuals with symptoms of COVID-19, those with significant exposure, and vulnerable populations, which includes asymptomatic individuals that local public health officials choose to prioritize for testing.

Some state leaders and public health experts accuse the administration of using politics rather than science to guide its response to the pandemic.

"This 180-degree reversal of COVID-19 testing guidelines is reckless, and not based on science and has the potential to do long-term damage to the [CDC's] reputation," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut said in a statement, rejecting the new CDC guidance.

Giroir said on Wednesday that there was no political pressure from the administration.
Newspaper headline: CDC downplay challenged