If you have Covid-19-like symptoms like e.g. cough, sore throat, rhinitis, fever, loss of smell/taste, diarrhoea, or have been tested positive for Covid-19 please follow the steps indicated in the workflow.
Please note:
For all employees working in the CECAD Research Center - independent of their affiliation …
Holiday Traveling (as at July 15, 2021)
Please note that in terms of bans and quarantine regulations after returning from abroad the regulations of the University Hospital are valid for all people working at CECAD, despite their employment.
For your summer vacation planning, we kindly ask you to check whether it is safe to travel to your chosen destination. It is requested that you do not travel to areas that have already been designated by the RKI as a risk area, high incidence area or virus variant area at the time of your departure.
Please check regularly the intranet to get information about quarantine regulations, which migh be valid for you at your return.
https://intranet.uk-koeln.de/unternehmensbereiche/bereiche-vertretungen/krankenhaushygiene/coronavirus/faq#c6263
(As at July 15, 2021):
Minimize social gatherings within CECAD, wear medical mouth-nose protection (surgical mask, no FFP-2 mask) if you are below the minimum distance in a room
Only one person at the time allowed to eat in social rooms or kitchens! One can also take lunch in free offices one person at the time
Doctoral examinations at CECAD (ONLY in the Lecture Hall, max. number of persons: 15)
Meetings in presence - are possible, but are still to be reduced to the operationally necessary minimum.
&nbs
- Safety measures in the CECAD building (organized by medfacilities)
- Technical repairs in the facilities or labs (organized individually)
- Job interviews
- Master students (for their lab working period)
- Guest scientists (if they work at CECAD for a limited time period)
For all other visitors, permission must be granted by CECAD Leadership. Please send request to sgrandel[at]uni-koeln.de
Procedure
(As at February 15, 2021):
Rules for number of people per room:
We recommend that each floor installs a general hygiene plan that guarantees that in common rooms (cell culture, -80 rooms etc.) distance and number of people present are according to the above rules.
Please document contacts when you share common rooms!
Always wear medical masks provided by the groups
(surgical masks are sufficient if all people do wear masks, if distance between people is less than 1,5m or if on the rare occasion a person cannot wear a mask, the other person should wear an FFP2 mask).
Supplementary Corona Risk Assessment (as at February 9, 2021)
Regulations apply according to the affiliation of the CECAD working groups. Supplementary Corona risk assessment must be carried out for all workplaces.
University / Faculty of Natural Sciences | University Hospital / Med. Faculty |
see Staff Unit 02.2
| |
In accordance with the requirements of the Work Protection Regulation (valid from January 28, 2021), the existing risk assessments (GBU) must be updated and the implementation of the Regulation must be documented (§ 2 (1)). Please send the corrected version of your corona risk assessment to: mnf-praesenzarbeit[at]uni-koeln.de |
|
Business trips
Regulations and approval of business trips apply according to the affiliation of the CECAD work groups
Please always check the current state of travel regulations on the website of the University/Medical Faculty, as they may change very fast!
University / Faculty of Natural Sciences | University Hospital / Med. Faculty |
as at July 15, 2021
Applications must always be submitted to the dean via the responsible supervisor, to the responsible manager of the central institutions, or to the Chancellor in the central administration.
| as at 01.06.2021 The general ban on official travel is lifted with effect from 1 June 2021. All official and internal test and quarantine regulations have to be applied. as at 25.8.2020 Until further notice, please refrain, if at all possible, from business trips and participation in events.
as at 19.6.2020 Applications for business trips can be submitted via the regular ways. |
Please note:
Dear CECAD members,
Please find attached information about updated regulations to be followed when returning from travels and for meetings in presence.
We wish you a relaxing summer and holiday season – stay healthy!
Thank you very much and very best wishes,
Thorsten Hoppe & Carien Niessen
Dear CECAD members,
Recent updates of the regulations of the Federal Government and the State of NRW as well as current low incidence levels will open possibilities for more presence in teaching and research during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We already received news from the University Hospital about this, but want to await further information by the University. Till then the current regulations on meetings, etc. in the CECAD building remain unchanged!
We hope to provide more information soon.
Holiday Traveling
Please note that in terms of bans and quarantine regulations after returning from abroad the regulations of the University Hospital are valid for all people working at CECAD, despite their employment.
For your summer vacation planning, we kindly ask you to check whether it is safe to travel to your chosen destination. It is requested that you do not travel to areas that have already been designated by the RKI as a risk area, high incidence area or virus variant area at the time of your departure.
Please check regularly the intranet to get information about quarantine regulations, which migh be valid for you at your return.
https://intranet.uk-koeln.de/unternehmensbereiche/bereiche-vertretungen/krankenhaushygiene/coronavirus/faq#c6263
We wish you a nice weekend and a relaxing holiday season.
Best,
Thorsten Hoppe & Carien Niessen
Dear CECAD members,
The good news is that we successfully organized the vaccination program for all CECAD employees, and most have already received their first shot! We appreciate very much the support and cooperation of the University Hospital and thank everyone who was involved in making this possible.
However, the entire University still insist that everyone strictly follows the general hygiene and safety regulations.
Please note: The following remains unchanged
− It remains absolutely necessary and is regardless of your vaccination status to
• consistently wear a medical mouth-nose protection or an FFP-2 mask on the medical campus,
• to keep your distance and
• to ensure regular ventilation of the premises on the campus of the University Hospital Cologne and the University.
− Employees with symptoms of illness who are indicative of or compatible with a coronavirus infection must not come into work and continue to report to the Contact Person Management (KPM) as a first step. In close consultation with the KPM it will then be decided whether a PCR test needs to occur at the Infection Control Center. Employees who have had a private or professional risk contact are asked to proactively report to the KPM in any case and stay at home until a decision can be made on the basis of PCR test. Only with the negative result of a PCR test from the Infection Protection Center may work continue.
− With respect to meetings in presence, the regulations of the University Hospital are valid for the CECAD building and people working at CECAD. Until further notice, only events that are absolutely necessary to maintain internal operations and that cannot be reasonably conducted in online format are to be held as face-to-face meetings
Traveling
Please note that in terms of bans and quarantine regulations after returning from abroad the regulations of the University Hospital are valid for all people working at CECAD, despite their employment.
For your summer vacation planning, we kindly ask you to check whether it is safe to travel to your chosen destination. It is requested that you do not travel to areas that have already been designated by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) as a risk area, high incidence area or virus variant area at the time of your departure. 1
According to the new Coronavirus Entry Regulation – Corona EinreiseV (valid since May 12, 2021 until June 30, 2021)
− for travelers returning from risk areas and high incidence areas, a 10-day
quarantine obligation after return applies in principle. Potential exceptions are described in detail on the UKK intranet 2
− All travelers returning from virus-variant areas, regardless of vaccination or recovered status, must stay in quarantine for 14 days after return, with no early exemption. This is currently valid for India and the UK.
Teaching (valid since May 14, 2021)
Due to the lowered incidence values, some corona regulations for the summer term 2021 are changed. Main changes are:
- Classroom attendance for first semester students of SoSe21 and WiSe 20/21 is permitted again.
- The USB will offer working places for students again from May 25 onwards.
All measures are subject to compliance with the known hygiene rules.
The university management asks that the opportunities for relaxation be used with great care. For more information, please see document attached.
Thank you very much and very best wishes,
Thorsten Hoppe & Carien Niessen
1 The RKI defines the following:
Risk areas - areas with increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
High incidence areas - areas with a particularly high risk of infection due to particularly high incidences for the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus
Virus variant areas - areas with a particularly high risk of infection due to widespread occurrence of certain SARS-CoV-2 virus variants.
2 intranet.uk-koeln.de/unternehmensbereiche/bereiche-vertretungen/krankenhaushygiene/coronavirus/faq
Dear CECAD members,
From this week on, employers are obligated under the new Corona Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance to offer its employees employees Corona rapid tests once or twice a week for those who do not work exclusively in home office.
Places where you can get a RAPID TEST
1) Employees of the University Hospital Cologne have the opportunity to have a rapid antigen test done at the Infection Protection Center in building 11 from Monday to Friday between 09:00 and 11:00. These tests can be performed during working hours. However, no test certificate will be issued for private use.
2) For university employees the university asks all employees and students to take advantage of the offer for one free rapid test per week (so-called citizen testing) for German residents on a regular basis.
These citizen tests can be carried out directly on campus at the Medicare test centre of STAY SAFE GmbH. The test centre is located on the ground floor of the New Seminar Building (Neues Seminargebäude, Gebäude 106). To get tested, please book an appointment for a free citizen test in advance on the following website: https://www.covid-testzentrum.de/koeln-uni
For employees, the test centre visit counts as worktime of up to 30 minutes, and supervisors must allow employees to take the test. It should be noted, however, that according to information from the Unfallkasse NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia Accident Insurance Fund), there is probably no statutory accident insurance protection for travels to and from the test centre (meaning the employer’s assurance should pay when you get an accident going to there or back to work), but rather your regular health insurance covers this.
SELF-TESTS provided for groups associated with the Natural Science Faculty
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is successively making a weekly self-test available to the University’s employees who are currently working in attendance for official reasons. The self-tests will be distributed ONLY to the work groups associated to the Natural Science Faculty. Further information is provided in a separate email.
Please note: The following remains unchanged
− It remains absolutely necessary under all circumstances and regardless of a negative antigen test result! to (a) consistently wear a medical mouth-nose protection or a FFP-2 mask, (b) to keep your distance and (c) to ensure regular ventilation of the premises on the campus of the University Hospital Cologne and the University.
− Employees with symptoms of illness that are indicative of or compatible with a coronavirus infection must continue to report to the Contact Person Management (KPM) as a first step and not come into work. In close consultation with the KPM it will then be decided whether a PCR test needs to occur at the Infection Control Center. Employees who have had a private or professional risk contact are asked to proactively report to the KPM in any case and stay at home until a decision can be made on the basis of PCR test. . Only with the negative result of a PCR test from the Infection Protection Center may work continue.
We very much appreciate your patience and your continuous support to keep the CECAD Research Center open for work and a safe place to work.
Thank you very much and very best wishes,
Thorsten Hoppe & Carien Niessen
Dear CECAD members,
For those of you who have not heard yet, due to the dramatic increase in the number of SARS- infected people, and perhaps more importantly, the fact that there are almost no intensive care beds available anymore in the city of Cologne, the city councel decided to put a curfew in place starting tonight at 12:00 am. What does it mean?
Those without any reason cannot be out on the street between 9 pm at night and 5 am in the morning. The reasons are stipulated in German on the website of the city and we briefly translated those below this email. Also see:
www.stadt-koeln.de/artikel/71020/index.html
Important for you, work is a reason to be out, you do not need an official document but you do need to be able to explain clearly why your work demands you to go outside. Your CECAD/University hospital ID card is probably sufficient. Just in case, the University Hospital has forms if necessary that need to be signed by your direct supervisor.
See University hospital news email:
“Wir gehen davon aus, dass Ihr Mitarbeiterausweis im Falle von Kontrollen auf dem Arbeitsweg eine ausreichende Legitimation darstellt. Wenn Sie sichergehen wollen, können Sie sich aber zusätzlich eine Bescheinigung als unentbehrliche Schlüsselperson von Ihrem Dienstvorgesetzten unterzeichnen lassen, für den Fall, dass Sie auf dem Arbeitsweg von den Ordnungsbehörden kontrolliert werden sollten. Im Intranet Newsblog auffindbar: Formular Schlüsselperson Pflege bzw. Arzt sowie Formular Schlüsselperson Verwaltung.”
***
“We assume that your employee ID card is sufficient legitimation in the event of checks on the way to work. However, if you want to be on the safe side, you can also have a certificate signed by your supervisor as an indispensable key person in case you are checked by the regulatory authorities on your way to work. Can be found on the intranet newsblog: Key Person Care or Doctor form and Key Person Administration form.”
In an email send around this afternoon, the university did ask to limit work in laboratories as much as you can. We therefore ask you to please only come in when experiments require this, and please keep socializing to the absolute minimum.
We will update and inform you as soon as we have more information including more from the University Hospital.
If you have any questions please address to: cecad-questions@uni-koeln.de
Thank you for helping to stop the spreading of the virus, and for keeping CECAD a safe place to work.
Thorsten, and Carien
Dear CECAD members,
Please find below important recent news and further information about current Corona measures of the University concerning the start of the summer term. The University and University Hospital assess the political and regulative situation on an ongoing basis and communicate anything appropriate at a sufficiently early stage.
Extension of the hygiene and protection guideline in revised version
The rectorate has agreed to an extension of a revised version of the hygiene and protection guideline. Accordingly:
- Already applied restrictions on attendance, research and administration will remain in place.
- State and federal regulations that go beyond the provisions of the guidelines, will continue to take precedence. We will keep you informed, if this happens.
Rapid test center opens on university campus as of April 12
A rapid test center (by a private operator) will be established on the university campus (Neues Seminar Gebäude). This test center is part of the municipal test infrastructure, where a citizens' test, free of charge („Kostenlose Bürgertests“), can be booked (website is under construction). In case of a positive test result, the mandatory PCR control test can also be performed there. The rapid test center is an additional offer for those employees who work in presence.
- The rectorate emphasizes that this test offer is not intended to increase physical presence on the campus. Home office will remain the standard until further notice.
- In addition, all hygiene and protection measures will continue to apply despite a negative test result.
- The rectorate is ready in talks with the staff representatives in order to settle issues, such as the recognition of working hours, for the rapid test center. You will be informed as soon as possible.
- Please note: If you have new symptoms associated with a coronavirus infection, you are not allowed to come to work - even if an independently performed rapid antigen test shows a negative result. Anyone showing symptoms of illness should immediately have a PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 performed at the Infection Prevention Center.
Start of summer term April 12, 2021
The lecture period of the summer semester will start on April 12. Due to the unclear development of the pandemic, the university follows the strategy of a flexible hybrid semester and has agreed on the following regulations for classroom teaching and learning, which will initially apply until 21 May 2021 (the Friday before Pentecost):
- Face-to-face teaching courses are until 21 May 2021 only permitted in individual cases if they cannot either be held without attendance or postponed without serious disadvantages for the students. A maximum of 50 people is allowed to participate in face-to-face teaching courses.
- Face-to-face examinations are until 21 May 2021 only permitted if they cannot be rescheduled for legal or factual reasons or if a rescheduling is not reasonable for the examinees.
The faculties and central institutions will be informed in parallel about the criteria. They are asked to check promptly which courses fall under these criteria and can therefore take place in attendance, and to inform the participants accordingly.
For every face-to-face event at the university, the requirements and specifications of the university's hygiene and protection guideline for premises and hygiene measures must be observed throughout; in addition, all participants must wear medical masks and contact-tracing must be ensured.
Thank you very much for your continuous support to keep the CECAD Research Center open for work and a safe place to work.
Very best wishes,
Thorsten Hoppe & Carien Niessen
Dear CECAD members,
On 3 March, the federal and state governments agreed to continue the lockdown until 28 March. As a result of this, measures at the university and CECAD will be continued:
Extension of the Corona Work Protection Ordinance
The Federal Corona Work Protection Ordinance (Coronaarbeitsschutzverordnung) will be extended to 30 April 2021. The University is therefore maintaining its current regulations in this area unchanged. As before, superiors are thus required to allow employees to work from home, provided there are no compelling official reasons to the contrary. It is still necessary to continue to document the reasons for coming into work (has been done on an institutional level for CECAD).
The existing occupational health and safety regulations, such as contact reduction, the obligation to wear medical masks and keep the distance and the specifications for room use by several persons, also remain valid.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE
All HYGEINE MEASURES APPLY TO EVERYONE REGARDLESS OF YOUR VACCINATION STATUS. People who do not comply to these measures will be refused to enter the CECAD building.
Thank you very much for your continuous support to keep the CECAD Research Center open for work and a safe place to work.
Very best wishes,
Thorsten Hoppe & Carien Niessen
Dear CECAD members,
The rules from January 22nd were updated by the university and the university hospital according to the federal Work Protection Regulation, applied since 28.1. -15.3.2021.
The additional requirements for CECAD PIs/heads and employees are summarized below:
NEW:
Usage of labs, workshops, etc. with several persons
The federal Work Protection Regulation now also applies to laboratories, workshops, etc., as well as to examinations in presence. From now on, such rooms can only be used by more than one person if an area of 10 m2 per person is provided.
Deviations from the 10 m² rule are permissible if the same level of safety is ensured in another way (e.g. airing, partitioning walls, wearing FFP2 masks). This must be documented and verified for each individual case.
Please note: For offices and workrooms, the already valid university regulations define that 12.5 m² have to be provided. A minimum distance of 1.5 m is still mandatory.
Corona risk assessment (GBU) – ONLY valid for groups associated to the natural science faculty In accordance with the requirements of the Work Protection Regulation, the existing risk assessments (GBU) must be updated and the implementation of the Regulation must be documented (§ 2 (1)).
− PIs/heads associated to the natural science faculty are asked you to do this asap. The department 02.2 - Occupational Safety and Environmental Protection provides a new template of the risk assessment in which the existing aspects have been supplemented by these new points. The template is attached, you can also find it under (https://verwaltung.uni-koeln.de/stabsstelle02.2/content/themenseite_corona_virus/ergaenzende_gefaehrdungsbeur teilung_corona_virus/index_ger.html). Support is provided by department 02.2.
− Please send the corrected version of your corona risk assessment to: mnf-praesenzarbeit@uni-koeln.de.
− For further information see also the letter from the rector, which has been attached in the original German version and a translated English version.
− Please note: We got so far no information from the University Hospital that PIs/Heads associated to the medical faculty are asked to update their corona specific risk assessment. Nevertheless, the rules stated here are also valid for these groups.
PLEASE NOTE:
In contrast to specifications for the university campus - hand-made/cloth face masks are not allowed anymore within the CECAD building or on the campus of the University Hospital!
The Work Protection Regulation can be viewed at:
www.bmas.de/DE/Service/Gesetze/sars-cov-2- arbeitsschutzverordnung.html.
Thank you very much for your continuous support to keep the CECAD Research Center open for work and a safe place to work. Very best wishes,
Thorsten Hoppe & Carien Niessen
Dear CECAD members,
Yesterday, the federal and state governments decided on additional nation-wide Corona measures. These new regulations, next to those already in place, will at least be in effect until February 14, 2021.
For our non-native speakers we have summarized the key points below.
We have received first information from the UKK today, how the new rules may further affect working at CECAD. As soon as all other instructions are clear, we will further inform you.
Brief summary of new government rules (selection):
1. Homeoffice: Until March 15, 2021, employers must allow employees to work from home whenever possible.
2. Contacts: it is allowed to meet one person outside of your own household. The federal and state governments ask you to limit all private contacts to the absolute minimum and to stay at home as much as possible. Infection risks can be significantly reduced if the number of households from which further contact persons come is kept as constant and as small as possible ("social bubble").
3. Mouth-nose protection: Only medical masks (i.e. operation-masks, KN95/N95 or FFP2 masks) are allowed in shops and local transport. Cloth masks are now no longer allowed in these common areas!
4. Schools/day care facilities: The restricted operation/closure of day care facilities and schools will be maintained until February 14, 2021.
Implications for CECAD:
Homeoffice/Presence at CECAD
Contacts
Mouth-nose protection
Schools/day care facilities
Further general information related to the virus is provided under:
https://www.cecad.uni-koeln.de/about/covid-19-measures-at-cecad/
https://intranet.uk-koeln.de/newsblog
https://portal.uni-koeln.de/coronavirus
https://www.land.nrw/corona
Please do not hesitate to contact us in case of questions: cecad-questions[at]uni-koeln.de
Thank you very much for your continuous support to keep the CECAD Research Center a safe place.
Very best wishes,
Thorsten Hoppe & Carien Niessen
Dear CECAD members,
We wish all of you a healthy, happy and successful new year with promising perspectives thanks to the vaccines that are now available! Until we get back to normal we ask for your continued support in keeping CECAD a safe place to work!
Unfortunately, the shutdown situation has not eased at the beginning of the new year. As you might have already heard from the news, the state-wide shutdown has been extended until January 31st. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia has amended the Corona Protection Regulation and the Corona Entry Regulation. Many measures have already been implemented at the University of Cologne and the University Hospital. Detailed information to the following issues are summarized in the attached document.
Up-to-date versions of the CoronaSchVO and CoronaEinrVO are provided at:
https://www.land.nrw/corona
Further information is provided under:
https://www.cecad.uni-koeln.de/about/covid-19-measures-at-cecad/
https://intranet.uk-koeln.de/newsblog
https://portal.uni-koeln.de/coronavirus
Please do not hesitate to contact us in case of questions under: cecad-questions[at]uni-koeln.de
Thank you very much for your continuous support also in 2021 to keep the CECAD Research Center a safe place.
Very best wishes,
Thorsten Hoppe & Carien Niessen
UoC: Hygiene and Protection Directive (EN)
UoC: Corona-Hygienekonzept (DE)
