Wyoming leads on COVID-19 variant testing

CASPER – As COVID-19 variants emerge globally, Wyoming is by a wide margin leading the nation in work to identify those mutations.

Nearly 19% of COVID-19 tests in Wyoming are being genetically sequenced, meaning the department is analyzing the genetic base pairs that make up the virus’ DNA to identify mutations.

Washington state places second, with fewer than 8% of tests sequenced, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of states are analyzing fewer than 3% of virus tests.

As more virus mutations have emerged globally, the ability to identify those outbreaks...