University of Wyoming to Conduct In-House Tests & Save Its Community Millions of Dollars

The University of Wyoming will be able to carry out and process tests in-house, and this way save millions of dollars on COVID-19 tests for its university students and staff.

According to Erudera.com, the testing program, considered one of the most innovative across the nation, demonstrates the university’s efforts to prevent the further spread of the virus.

The in-house tests can now be conducted thanks to the Department of Veterinary Sciences, alongside several other UW departments, and will be carried out at the UW Biocontainment Facility.

Back in spring 2020, it was impossible for the university to provide the necessary supplies and carry out its own testing. As a result, the latter had to ask for support from outside sources.

However, the Department of Veterinary Sciences has secured a large quantity of these tests and will be able to manage the testing of the wide university’s community.

“We’re extremely grateful for the work done by the WSVL team and others to make it possible for the university to conduct its own testing program. Their efforts, and the compliance of our students, faculty, and staff, have helped us maintain a safe environment on our campus — and set the stage for returning to a more traditional semester this fall,” UW President Ed Seidel said.

The Director of Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Will Laegreid, said they usually process around 2,500 tests daily. The high-tech equipment and inter-departmental cooperation enable the university to receive samples and scan them to check for viruses.

Afterward, it is the Information Technology Department that compares the corresponding barcodes to student identification, and if matched, the student receives the results. 

“We ultimately get to where we can do the tests from here and not have to send samples to basically all over the country to get them tested so we can test them here and turn around the results more quickly and more cheaply,” Laegreid said.

Around 80 percent of the university students and staff will be able to accurately be tested 2-3 times per week.

“It’s been fun to see how people stepped up and said yeah, we could get this done,” said Laegreid.

Although the university community is hopeful to see fewer positive tests in recent days, Laegreid said there is still much work to be done.

All undergraduate students spending time on campus are tested twice a day, whereas graduate students, faculty, and staff members are tested weekly. In addition, the university also provides free COVID-19 testing to the wider Albany County community.