Corona-News

Since the weekend, the Netherlands is no longer classed as a high-risk area.  As a result, cross-border commuters are no longer subject to the regular testing obligation. Accordingly, the University Medical Center has decided to discontinue its testing service at Uniklinik RWTH Aachen with immediate effect. The RWTH Crisis Management Team wants to point out that the Netherlands is still classified as a risk area. For trips to risk areas lasting several days, the recent regulations continue to apply, in particular the quarantine and testing obligations as well as the obligation to register on entry into Germany. For further information, please visit: https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/en/coronavirus/current-information-for-travellers.html

RWTH’s Family Services Center would like to point out that it continues to provide assistance as schools reopen and the current daycare restrictions are being lifted.

As of Monday, May 31, 2021, all schools in districts and independent cities with a stable rate of infection (number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days) of less than 100 will resume in-person classes under adapted conditions. This applies to schools in Aachen as well. The strict hygiene requirements, in particular mask and testing requirements, will continue to apply.

Schulministerium: Regelungen für Schulen ab dem 31. Mai 2021

As of Monday, June 7, daycare facilities in North Rhine-Westphalia will return to regular operation, meaning that all children will again be cared for as contractually agreed. The hygiene and infection protection measures of the Corona Daycare Ordinance will continue to apply, and voluntary self-testing opportunities for children and daycare staff will continue to be offered.

Corona: Aktuelle Informationen für Eltern

Should the infection rate again increase and exceed 100 (or even 165), it cannot be ruled out that schools will return to “alternate” or remote teaching, and that daycare facilities will return to restricted operation. Should RWTH employees, as a result – or due to quarantine requirements, for example – encounter any problems in meeting meet work and family obligations, they are expressly encouraged to get in touch with RWTH’s Family Services Center (familienservice@rwth-aachen.de).

The University Medical Center is expected to be able to begin vaccinating against Covid-19 from Tuesday, June 8, 2021. The type (vector and/or mRNA vaccine) and the extent of the vaccination offer (available vaccine doses per week) are not yet known. The University Medical Center naturally strives to get as large an allotment per week as possible.

With the anticipated launch of the vaccination program, the priority group classifications of the Coronavirus Vaccination Ordinance that have been in effect to date will likely also be lifted. It is nevertheless becoming clear that not all those willing to be vaccinated will receive a vaccination offer as early as the beginning of June. After deliberate consultation with the University Medical Center, the Crisis Management Team and the Rectorate have decided to offer vaccination in staggered age groups still to be specified, starting with the oldest members of the University.

The individual age groups will be determined as soon as the exact quantities of the vaccine supplied are known. As soon as the demand for vaccination in one age group decreases noticeably, the next age group will be contacted immediately.

The Crisis Management Team and the Rectorate expressly ask for your understanding that we cannot prioritize according to specific activities or other criteria. This decision was also made because the University Medical Center has an equal mandate to provide care for four institutions (RWTH, FH, Studierendenwerk, and UK Aachen).

We are planning to provide a booking portal where you can book a vaccination appointment. We expect to inform you about the exact booking procedure and the activation of the portal at the beginning of June (22nd calendar week).

The offer of the University Medical Center as part of the corporate medical facilities will be another of several pillars of the German government’s vaccination campaign. If you have the opportunity to get vaccinated at a vaccination center or general practitioner’s practice, the Crisis Management Team would like to urge you to take up that offer.

As soon as new information is available, the Crisis Management Team will again pass it on to you.

RWTH employees can now certify other employees’ negative self-tests. For example, such certificates can also be used for “click-and-meet” offers by retail stores. However, the prerequisite for this is that individuals who act as certifiers have previously signed the instructions found at https://download.cms.rwth-aachen.de/WebDAV_5.2/Unterweisung_nach_Anlage_1_zur_Coronateststrukturverordnung.pdf. The signed instructions must be kept at the respective university institution and presented when required.

Please note that the testing service for cross-border commuters at Uniklinik RWTH Aachen is adjusting its opening hours due to declining demand. You can access the testing service at its usual location on weekdays from 9 am to 11 am.

The German government recently published federal regulations on travel.  The following new regulations are of particular interest for university operations:

• Travel to high-risk areas (currently the Netherlands, for example) will lead to a minimum quarantine period of 5 days. Only fully vaccinated or recovered individuals are exempt from this quarantine regulation.
• Cross-border commuters from the Netherlands who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid are no longer subject to the regular testing obligation.

For further information, please visit this site: https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/service/gesetze-und-verordnungen/guv-19-lp/coronaeinreisev.html

When creating a user profile on the portal of the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein, where appointments can be booked at the Vaccination Center, users must generally confirm whether they are classed as a priority group according to Sections 3 or 4 of the Coronavirus Vaccination Ordinance. Please note, however, the following links and information. Under the link “Further information on the groups of persons”, you will find a list of the currently eligible groups of people and professions: (https://termin.corona-impfung.nrw/assets/kontaktpersonen.html). Here, among others, the occupational group “employees at secondary schools” is listed. According to information provided by Städteregion Aachen, university employees are not classed in this group. The current regulations of the state of NRW (so-called vaccination decree) do not allow any other interpretation here.

Please note that even though a booking has been made, proof of employment will still be checked on site. The Vaccination Center elaborates on this on its website: “Please note: Vaccination eligibility will be verified at the Vaccination Center prior to the vaccination appointment. Individuals not currently eligible to get vaccinated will be turned away.”

At present, we can therefore assume that RWTH employees will still be turned away despite the fact that appointments can be booked at the Vaccination Center.

In its updated version of the Coronavirus Vaccination Ordinance, the German federal government has now classed all university employees as priority group 3, meaning they are now considered a higher priority for vaccination. For detailed information, please refer to  http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/coronaimpfv_2021-04/__4.html for more information. RWTH employees will therefore also be given priority for vaccination against COVID-19 – depending on the availability of vaccines.

The Crisis Management Team and RWTH Rectorate would like to point out that the Vaccination Ordinance differentiates between different priority subgroups based on age, pre-existing conditions, or occupational risk. The NRW state government will decide on the order of vaccinations, i.e. when and where (vaccination center, general practitioner, company medical service, etc.) the members of the different priority subgroups will be offered a vaccination. As of yet, no decision has been made for the group of “university employees.”

For this reason, employees will not yet be able to get vaccinated at the Vaccination Center of Städteregion Aachen. However, since some family doctors are already offering vaccinations to individuals classed as priority group 3, the University HR Department will issue a certificate of employment at RWTH in the next few days and send it to employees’ home address, so they can present this certificate to their family doctor to get vaccinated.

RWTH will keep employees updated on the latest developments regarding vaccinations on our FAQ page at https://www.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/ghyqc/lidx/1

Furthermore, the University will continue to make every effort to offer employees a vaccination service through the University Medical Center as quickly as possible. As soon as we have any new information, the Crisis Management Team will get back in touch with employees.

As of now, the tennis courts of the University Sports Center at the tennis facility Prof.-Pirlet-Straße are open again. Together with the Allwetterplatz Königshügel, seven courts are now available. Under the current Coronavirus Protection Ordinance, only singles games are permitted.

Further information and registration under https://hochschulsport.rwth-aachen.de/cms/HSZ/Sport/Sportartensuche/Tennis/~iqoqj/Tennisplatz-Einzelterminbuchung-ab-22-03/.