More Oregonians with coronavirus symptoms can be tested for the potentially deadly disease following changes Wednesday to federal eligibility guidelines.

Patients with symptoms such as fever, cough or trouble breathing are now eligible for testing – with a doctor’s approval.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the change following a pledge Tuesday by Vice President Mike Pence to expanding testing nationwide.

But it’s not clear yet what that means in Oregon. The Oregon Health Authority hasn’t announced specific rules about who should be tested.

The CDC’s announcement seemingly sent officials scrambling to update their own rules about eligibility. Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state health officer and epidemiologist, said the state was working on changes as of 12:15 p.m. Wednesday.

“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 in a video posted to social media.

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

Four hours later, in response to inquiries from The Oregonian/OregonLive for the state’s new guidelines, the health authority emailed a link to the CDC’s new guidance.

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Sidelinger had welcomed the testing eligibility changes by the CDC earlier in the day and said state officials were acting with diligence.

“We have a team of public health officials working very hard right now to say, ‘What does that look like in Oregon, and how can we best use this flexibility to protect the health of Oregonians and identify what’s happening here in Oregon?’” Sidelinger said.

Until now, the CDC had recommended testing only people with COVID-19 symptoms who traveled to a foreign country with an outbreak or had been in close contact with someone confirmed to have the disease.

The CDC also recommended testing for people with severe respiratory symptoms who were hospitalized with no underlying diagnosis.

Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday wrote a letter to Pence urging “flexibility” in testing, echoing calls from across the country to expand who is eligible.

It’s unclear how Oregon’s guidance might differ from the CDC’s. Pence, in his announcement, was clear that “any American can be tested, no restrictions, subject to doctors’ orders.”

Federal officials expect doctors will be able to order commercial coronavirus tests instead of relying on state labs. But mass production of such tests could be weeks away.

The state of Oregon currently has about 1,500 tests.

The only testing so far has been by the health authority, under existing restrictions on who can be tested. As of Wednesday night, 48 people had been checked, with three identified as being infected and 45 negative. An additional 13 tests were pending.

State officials have acknowledged that hundreds of Oregonians could already be or have been infected.

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