Virology lab tests millionth COVID-19 sample

The UW Medicine Virology Lab has hit a major milestone. On Tuesday night, they tested their millionth COVID-19 sample since the pandemic began in March.  Most samples have been negative for the virus, with a 4.1% positivity rate.

In this video tour of the virology lab, you can see how busy technicians are.  “We used to have only three spots where we would be able to receive samples. Now we have more than 30 across the entire area where we can log samples," said Alex Greninger, the lab's assistant director.

In the video, Keith Jerome, head of virology, walks through the steps that team members take with patient samples. Pavitra Roychoudhury, acting instructor of laboratory medicine, shows where the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 samples is extracted.  

It's worth mentioning that the staff do more than just test samples of the novel coronavirus.

"We have about 150 faculty and about 1,500 staff that are doing millions of testing every year for the Seattle region, UW Medicine and actually all around the country," said Geoffrey Baird, interim chair of laboratory medicine and pathology.