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CDC paused more than two dozen lab tests after downsizing gutted its reference labs

In the week of April 1, 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a list of more than two dozen diagnostic tests it had paused — the largest set the agency has ever halted at once — including testing for rabies, mpox, Epstein-Barr, and varicella-zoster, as well as rare imported pathogens. Reporting tied the pause directly to the agency's downsizing: staffing fell an estimated 20-25%, with the poxvirus and rabies labs losing about half their staff and the malaria branch gutted further. HHS called the pause a "routine review," a framing the reporting on staffing losses contradicts.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Atlanta, Georgia (CDC headquarters) / nationwide

Abuses documented

Actors

The CDC's reference laboratories perform diagnostic testing that state and commercial labs generally cannot — confirmatory rabies testing, mpox typing, and identification of rare or imported pathogens such as the parasites behind "snail fever" and the virus that causes "sloth fever." In the first week of April 2026 the agency posted a directory listing more than two dozen of these tests as unavailable, the broadest pause it has ever imposed at once. The Association of Public Health Laboratories' chief executive, Scott Becker, said it was not clear why so many tests were taken offline, and called the pauses "concerning, only if it's permanent."

The pause followed a year of dramatic downsizing at the CDC through layoffs, retirements, resignations, and the nonrenewal of temporary appointments. Staffing fell by an estimated 20% to 25% across the agency, and the cuts reached the laboratories directly: the poxvirus and rabies labs lost roughly half their prior staff, and the malaria branch was gutted further, according to the National Public Health Coalition, a group of current and former CDC workers. HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon called the pause temporary and the product of "a routine review to uphold our commitment to high quality laboratory testing," saying some tests would return "in the coming weeks."

Why we recorded this

Congress, not the president alone, decides what the federal government is built to do; when it establishes an agency and funds a function, the executive is meant to carry it out, not quietly undo it. Reducing a public-health agency's workforce until it can no longer perform diagnostic testing that no other lab provides nullifies a congressionally-grounded function without going through Congress. The abuse recorded here is that hollowing-out by executive action, not the policy case for a smaller government and not ordinary mismanagement; the testing pause is simply the point at which the lost capacity became visible. We record it because the separation of powers includes the power of the purse and the duty to faithfully execute the programs the law creates.

Sources

  1. CDC pauses dozens of types of lab testing during evaluation and in wake of downsizing — CNN (Associated Press) primary accessed June 7, 2026
  2. CDC pauses testing for rabies, Epstein-Barr, monkeypox and other viruses — NBC News primary accessed June 7, 2026
  3. CDC Pauses Dozens of Types of Lab Testing During Evaluation and in Wake of Downsizing — U.S. News / Associated Press secondary accessed June 7, 2026

See also