We know that this has been a long and difficult year for the whole world, including our global user community, and our team here at Covidence. The holiday season is typically a time for our global research community to rest and rejuvenate, and at the end of 2021 that’s even more necessary than usual. As a company, we’ve decided to recognise this by giving Covidence employees a much-needed break over the holiday period. 

Most importantly, we want to assure you that your access to the platform will not be interrupted and we will be actively monitoring our systems through this period. Please read on for more details:

What does this mean for you as a customer?
The global Covidence team will be recognising the period from Friday 24 December 2021 through Monday 3 January 2022 as a company holiday. Your access to the platform will not be affected during this period, and our Community Management and Engineering teams will be actively monitoring our systems throughout to ensure that all systems are continuing to function smoothly. Please continue to contact support@covidence.org for any urgent inquiries regarding access or performance. Responses may be delayed, but we will have a reduced team online to review incoming inquiries and respond as soon as possible. 

What dates are included in this shutdown?
Our Community Management team will be available via the support@covidence.org email address until close of business (5pm EST) on Thursday, 23 December 2021. At that point monitoring of the Support inbox will be monitored by a reduced team of on-call Community Managers for urgent inquiries until Monday, 3 January 2022, when we will return to regular service.

What if I have an emergency?
During this period, our Product and Engineering teams will not be releasing any system updates or new features that might normally affect platform performance or access. A reduced team of on-call tech managers will be actively monitoring our systems throughout the closure period to ensure consistent functionality and access, and to deal with any emergencies that may arise. 

Why is Covidence closing down during this period?
Like everyone else, the team at Covidence is ready to put the many challenges of 2021 behind us and look to the opportunities that 2022 offers. The holiday season is typically a time for our global research community to rest and rejuvenate, and at the end of 2021 that’s even more necessary than usual. We believe that this is the best way to ensure that our teams have the time they need to refresh and reset, so that we can greet 2022 with renewed energy and enthusiasm. We encourage everyone in the Covidence community to do the same.