On February 1, the University of Wyoming began offering free COVID-19 testing to the Albany County community. The tests are an extension of UW’s Surveillance testing program which requires undergraduate students to test twice a week and graduate students to test once a week.
Saliva samples are collected in the Crane Hall Cafeteria and taken to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory to be tested for the virus.
The samples from the public are collected in the basement of the Union rather than Crane Hall Cafeteria.
“We take a small amount of saliva, mix it with other reagents, and run a nucleic acid application test that looks for four different genes in the virus’s genome,” Doctor William Laegreid, head of the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, said. “If we detect two out of the three genes, we call that sample positive.”
The university recently started using the Veterinary Lab testing process for students and faculty, as opposed to using third party tests from Vault Health. There is still an abundance of testing available.
“We have a certain amount of extra capacity right now. Other testing in the state is a little hard to come by and, in some cases, there are some fairly long delays. Our idea was, we have the capacity, there’s a need in the community. Why don’t we just offer it?” Dr. Laegreid said.
Tests for community members are capped at 375 per week to make sure the university has enough for its own students and faculty.
The university is planning to work with other organizations in the Laramie community including School District 1, Laramie Interfaith, Laramie Main Street Alliance, Laramie Chamber Business Alliance, Laramie’s Downtown Clinic, and UW’s Family Medicine Residency Centers. The intention is to use these groups to get the word out.
“We are partnering with UW on COVID-19 community testing to provide another avenue for testing in the county. The program will be implemented by UW, and we may direct parents and students to this service through our school personnel,” Albany County School District 1 Superintendent, Jubal Yennie, said.
Testing is not restricted to members of the groups mentioned. It will be administered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Anyone in Albany County over the age of 8 can sign up.
“I’m close with a couple of people who are high risk and know a negative test can put their minds at ease,” Riley Baker, a Laramie resident and UW student. “Beyond that, testing could be helpful for high schoolers in this town. My mom is high risk and she definitely takes advantage of public testing when it comes to my brother, who is a bit of a social butterfly.”
Any community member looking to get tested can visit http://www.uwyo.edu/alerts/covid-19/public-testing/ to register.
