Genomic sequence analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in the University of Washington community

Abstract

Universities serve as unique communities in that students live in communal settings, attend social gatherings and travel during university holidays. We utilized genomic data from a university SARS-CoV-2 testing program over two years to characterize the molecular epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 on a university campus and compare it to viral diversity in a larger population in the state of Washington (WA) in the United States during the same period. We also assessed the impact of epidemiologic, demographic, and clinical factors of students, staff, and faculty one the relationship among SARS-CoV-2 genomes. In both WA and university-derived sequences there are similarities in the increase of Omicron cases from December 2020 to January 2021. Differences in nextstrain clade distribution between university and WA sequences is evident during June 2021 and primarily in the summer months, when university sequences were scarcely collected. Most university study participants with sequenced data experienced symptomatic infection and clusters of closely related university-derived viruses were primarily from samples from UW students.