Vivaldi study staff testing guidance letter
Published 4 March 2022
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To: Adult social care service providers taking part in the Vivaldi study
Testing exemption – Vivaldi research care homes to continue to offer weekly PCR tests for staff
Thank you for your ongoing participation in the Vivaldi study. By taking part in this study, you are helping us to answer important questions about the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on the adult social care sector, in order to protect care home residents and staff from the virus.
You will have received a letter on 27 January 2022 that sets out that the asymptomatic staff testing regime will change to pre-shift lateral flow tests and will remove the weekly asymptomatic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test by 16 February 2022.
We are asking that for care homes participating in the Vivaldi study, asymptomatic staff continue to take a weekly PCR test as normal, in addition to the pre-shift daily lateral flow test as stipulated in the revised testing guidance. This is because PCR test results provide additional scientific data that researchers need, to produce insights on the impact of COVID-19 in care homes.
Continuing to take weekly PCR tests will allow this vital research to continue, helping to improve our understanding of COVID-19 in care homes and how we can keep staff and residents safe, as the pandemic continues to evolve.
Please note that this exemption only applies to the removal of the weekly asymptomatic staff PCR test – all other changes to restrictions and testing, as set out in the letter to providers of 27 January 2022, should apply. Further guidance and frequently asked questions can be found in the annexe to this letter.
Yours sincerely,
Dame Jennifer Harries
BSc MB ChB MPH MBA FFPH FCMI
Chief Executive Officer
UK Health Security Agency