Norwich COVID-19 Testing Initiative: feasibility project evaluation

• DOI: 10.1101/2020.09.22.20199455
• Publication Date: 2020-09-23T16:55:19Z
• Authors: T Berger Gillam; J Cole; K Gharbi; M Hitchcock; D Edwards; T Brabbs; J Lipscombe; R Davidson; S Rushworth; N Steel
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Adolescent; Universities; 610; Pilot Projects; 650; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans; Mass Screening; Aged; Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; COVID-19; General Medicine; Middle Aged; 16. Peace & justice; United Kingdom; 3. Good health; Cross-Sectional Studies; COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing; Asymptomatic Diseases; Feasibility Studies; Female

AbstractBackgroundThere is a high prevalence of COVID-19 in university-age students, who are returning to university campuses. There is little evidence regarding the feasibility of universal, asymptomatic testing to control outbreaks in this population. This study aimed to pilot mass COVID-19 testing on a university research park, to assess the feasibility and acceptability of scaling up to all staff and students.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional feasibility study on a university research park in the East of England. Staff and students (5,625) on the research park were eligible to participate. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing was offered to all participants. Participants were offered 4 swabs, which they self-administered over a two-week period. Outcome measures included: uptake; drop-out rate; positivity rates; participant acceptability measures; laboratory processing measures.Results798/1053 (76%) of those who registered provided at least one swab and of these, 687 (86%) provided all four. 681/687 (99%) had all negative results. 6 participants had one inconclusive result. There were no positive results. 458/798 (57%) participants responded to a post-testing questionnaire. 446/458 (97.5%) of those who responded agreed that they would be interested in repeat testing in the future.ConclusionsRepeated self-testing is feasible and acceptable to a university population.