WASHINGTON - US politicians are "taking tools" away from public health offices in a bid to control the COVID-19 pandemic, former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams has said, according to a media report on Thursday.

The authority to mandate masks in schools lies at the local and state levels, Adams said during an interview on "Full Court Press" set to air Sunday, US political website The Hill reported.

While some people don't like wearing masks, he said "don't send your soldiers into war without their bulletproof vests," according to the report.

"You'd never sent a police officer out into the field without a weapon. Don't take weapons away indiscriminately from public health officials," he said.

COVID-19 cases and deaths are surging again in the United States as the highly transmissible Delta variant is taking hold and vaccination efforts are stagnating in the country.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have updated their guidance to return to masking indoors, regardless of vaccination status, for regions with a spread of the virus that is considered "substantial" or "high," but the response to the guidance was a palpable desynchronization at the local and federal level.