Retirement and nursing homes X The needs of the residents for family and personal contact shall be given appropriate priority when balancing infection prevention and social participation. X There should be a stop to visiting bans – both nationwide and in the respective Laender. In the event of changes in the law, the facilities should be given sufficient preparation time so that they can inform residents and relatives about the current visiting regulations. 2.1.6 „First lane“ test strategies for care facilities As a COVID-19 infection is often asymptomatic, the personnel working in homes is not safe from becoming infected unwittingly. The mandatory regular precautionary testing of the employees of retirement and nursing homes was introduced nationwide from as late as 1 November 2020 with the COVID-19 Preventive Measures Regulation, Federal Law Gazette II No. 463/2020. Prior to that there was no harmonised nationwide strategy. Three million tests for a closely meshed test network in the retirement and nursing homes were secured by the Federal Government for the purpose of expanding the screening programmes focussed on protection of the retirement and nursing homes. Increase in test frequency Whilst an antigen or molecular biological test for SARS-CoV-2 was required once a week in the beginning, the prescribed test frequency has since increased. The operators of retirement and nursing homes are only allowed to admit employees who are screened every three days at the latest. Feedback from the personnel to the commissions shows that the willingness to contribute to the increased infection prevention is quite high. However, the nasal swabs used for the antigen tests are perceived as unpleasant and very painful for some. Even if these tests are correctly performed by qualified staff, the nasal mucous membrane reacts very sensitively particularly if there is inflammation. Furthermore, the anatomy in the nose is not the same for everyone and can make inserting swabs up to the nasopharynx problematic. This is why care facilities in Vienna now use other test methods that do not require medical personnel and are not painful: the gargle test. Unlike the rapid antigen swab test, the gargle test is a PCR test and must be analysed in a laboratory. Another advantage with this method is that it also enables testing for specific virus mutations. The method used to extract sample material was developed as part of the Vienna COVID-19 Diagnostics Initiative (VCDI) and financed through the funds of the Mayor of Vienna and the Vienna Science and Technology Fund amongst others. The screening in the pilot project was conducted on the basis of the Epidemics Act and supported by the medical crisis taskforce of the City of Vienna which also decides on the inclusion of additional operations. Long waiting times for test results 41 The rapid execution and analysis of PCR tests is also essential as soon as suspected cases emerge. Long waiting times for the results make implementing