Oregon does not currently have the capacity to provide widespread coronavirus testing, a top health official has acknowledged, despite new guidance from the federal government to expand testing.

The blunt assessment came from Lillian Shirley, the public health director for the Oregon Health Authority, hours after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released directions Wednesday for wider testing across America.

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State health officials received about 1,500 tests from the CDC and so far have tested only 48 people. Three Oregonians have been identified with coronavirus.

But Oregon’s testing supply isn’t currently enough to meet Vice President Mike Pence’s pledge that “any American can be tested, no restrictions, subject to doctor’s orders,” Shirley told state lawmakers.

“The federal guidance is, like, if a physician wants a test, he can order it,” Shirley said. “We do not have that capacity right now. We’re hoping to get more tests.”

Shirley said Oregon health officials have now placed a request for more tests in response to the guidance. Officials believe tests will be released from the federal government “in short order,” she said.

“But I have to tell you, it’s not on the ground now,” she said.

Shirley expressed concern that the CDC’s expanded guidance would not only zap the state’s existing test supply but also overwhelm local counties where people might find out they’re infected, if tested.

“We do have concerns about testing capacity, and about the capacity for county health departments to monitor and to follow up with everyone who is being tested with this new guidance,” Shirley said.

Shirley’s comments to lawmakers Wednesday afternoon offered a candid glimpse into the logistical challenges and public pressures state officials are facing since identifying Oregon’s first coronavirus patient less than one week ago.

But they also sharply contrasted with the message publicly delivered hours earlier by Gov. Kate Brown, Patrick Allen, the health authority director, and Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state health officer and epidemiologist.

Those three appeared on a social media video during Wednesday’s noon hour in an attempt toward government transparency. Calling it “another piece of good news,” Brown highlighted the fact that she asked Pence in a letter this week for more “flexibility” for who is tested.

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“Today we are receiving word that the CDC will be issuing new guidance for testing,” she said. “Oregon public health officials are working to determine how to best implement this guidance right now.”

Sidelinger echoed the governor.

“We’re in the process here in Oregon of working on some guidelines that we can provide to health care providers so they can do what’s best for their patients, the people in front of them, so that we can test those who are most at risk and help protect the health of Oregonians,” Sidelinger said.

“Those guidelines should be out momentarily, or soon,” he said.

Brown, reading a question from someone in the audience, asked Sidelinger to confirm that Oregon had an adequate amount of tests.

“We do,” he said.

In comments hours later to a joint meeting of House and Senate Committees on Human Services, Shirley said state officials had no prior knowledge of the CDC’s revised guidance and currently lacked enough tests to comply with the changes.

State officials did not have a clear understanding about how that new guidance was supposed to be implemented, she told lawmakers, and were seeking clarification from federal authorities.

Prior to Pence’s comments this week, the CDC had recommended testing anyone who had COVID-19 symptoms and had been in a country with an outbreak, or who had symptoms and had been in close contact with someone confirmed to have coronavirus.

The CDC also recommended testing for people who were hospitalized with a severe lower respiratory illness that no diagnosis could explain.

The new guidelines Wednesday opened testing to a wider group of symptomatic patients. But the CDC recommended doctors still consider other explanations for a patient’s symptoms and the risk of exposure, through either close contact to an infected person or travel from a country with an outbreak.

“Clinicians should use their judgment to determine if a patient has signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 and whether the patient should be tested,” the CDC wrote.

A state spokesman told The Oregonian/OregonLive late Wednesday night that the health authority would adopt the new federal guidance “by encouraging clinicians to pursue COVID-19 testing when the evaluation of hospitalized patients who test negative for influenza indicates likelihood of viral pneumonia.”

The spokesman, Jonathan Modie, did not respond to follow-up questions seeking clarification about the scope of such a change.

In the statement, Modie said Oregon does plan to give guidance “for a streamlined process” allowing clinicians to request a test from the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory.

That process would involve using an online form “that allows OHA epidemiologists to approve testing requests electronically if the clinician’s patient meets the testing criteria.”

The coronavirus epidemic that began in China has now spread to every continent but Antarctica. In America, more than 150 people have been infected, including the three in Oregon, and 11 have died nationwide.

In an effort to slow that spread, the vice president said Wednesday enough kits to test 1.5 million Americans would be distributed to states “this week.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also approved the production of commercial tests for coronavirus that would make it easier for more Americans to eventually be tested.

For now, Shirley said the state health lab in Washington County will continue processing its CDC-issued tests. The state lab has the capacity to process 80 tests a day, and could do more if needed, officials have said.

A hospital system in Oregon is also working at “developing their own capacity,” Shirley said, but state officials will need to certify those efforts.

The state lab will prioritize tests from people who are symptomatic, have been in contact with an infected Oregonian or are part of groups at high-risk for health problems from the coronavirus, Shirley said.

“We have to prioritize our populations for that,” she said. “But we are working to expand that capacity, absolutely.”

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oreogonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt