On Sept. 15, 2020, initial findings reported by the Arizona COVID-19 Genomics Union (ACGU) suggested that following Arizona’s first reported case of COVID-19 in late January, the state experienced no cases that went undetected and was COVID-free until at least 11 distinct incursions occurred between mid-February and early April.

The published results appeared in the scientific journal mBio.

Faculty at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, Northern Arizona University (NAU), University of Arizona (UArizona) and Arizona State University (ASU) launched the ACGU in April with the express purpose of tracking the causative agent of COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2: how it evolves and how it spreads into, within and out of Arizona.

The ACGU sequenced the SARS-CoV-2 genomes in as many virus-positive patient samples in Arizona as possible, and working with Arizona’s public health officials, applied the results toward statewide efforts to test and track patients, as well as provide guidance for Arizona public policy makers.

Quick action by ASU and Maricopa County public health officials, ACGU scientists agree, likely kept the first identified COVID-19 patient in Arizona — a student who had just returned from Hubei, the Chinese province where the disease originated — from igniting an outbreak, and prevented Arizona from becoming an early epicenter for the contagion.