Corona-News: Dispute about wage compensation before the Higher Administrative Court

News about Corona from February 9, 2023

Psychological consequences of the pandemic in children and young people: GEW criticizes government plans

Thursday, February 9, 12:01 a.m.: The trade union for education and science (GEW) considers the federal government’s package of measures to deal with the psychosocial stress on children and young people as a result of the corona pandemic to be insufficient. “Providing mental health coaches for a good 100 schools is a step in the right direction – but given the more than 40,000 schools in Germany, it’s not even a drop in the bucket,” said Chairwoman Maike Finnern of the editorial network Germany (RND/Thursday).

She called for the school psychological service to be expanded for pupils. The supply is very unequally distributed in the federal states. “However, all federal states are miles away from a school psychology position for 1000 pupils, which is necessary for good support for children and young people,” says Finnern.

Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) and Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) presented the final report of a working group on the situation of children and young people after the pandemic in Berlin. Specifically, the government wants to make ten million euros available for so-called mental health coaches in schools, among other things. From the 2023/24 school year, they are to help children and young people at over 100 schools in Germany with concerns and problems, offer “first mental help” in acute crises and provide other support services.

Dispute about wage compensation before the Higher Administrative Court

Wednesday February 8, 2023 at 6:28 am: In the dispute over wage compensation in the meat industry during the corona pandemic, it is now the turn of the North Rhine-Westphalian Higher Administrative Court (OVG). In the next month, the court will hear two lawsuits from companies that work as subcontractors for the large slaughterhouses, as an OVG spokeswoman said when asked. After the quarantine of their employees ordered by the authorities, they are demanding compensation from the state for the wages paid.

On March 10, the court will first deal with an appeal from the first instance of the administrative court in Minden, in which the employee was employed at Tönnies in Rheda-Wiedenbrück. At noon we continue with an oral hearing of a case of the Münster Administrative Court. The Westfleisch company is affected here. So far, the country has suffered defeats in the majority of cases and has gone before the OVG.

Background: NRW Minister of Health Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) had instructed the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe to reject applications for compensation after employee infections during the corona pandemic. The minister had accused the companies of being partly responsible for the outbreak of the pandemic. As a result, the administrative courts in Münster and Minden received over 7,000 lawsuits. In the meantime, the first judgments have been made. According to the annual report, 3,600 cases are still pending in Münster. With a view to the test case at the Higher Administrative Court, more than 2000 lawsuits have been put on hold for the time being.

The administrative courts of first instance were largely unanimous. Only if it is established that the employer alone is to blame for the ordered quarantine can the country refuse to pay compensation. However, there were a number of factors involved in the corona outbreak in spring 2020. At that time, nobody knew anything about the importance of aerosols and the transmission of corona via circulating air cooling. Therefore, the country cannot accuse the companies of negligence. The Infection Protection Act provides for compensation if authorities order quarantine.

NRW has to burn millions of corona masks and protective gowns

Monday February 6, 2023 6:23 am: According to the Ministry of Health, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia currently stores around 10 million protective masks that have to be burned. In addition, this year more than 7.2 million protective gowns will reach their use-by date, which will then also have to be disposed of. According to the ministry, most of the smocks come from the manufacturer van Laack.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the textile company from Mönchengladbach got in touch with the state government through the son of the then Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU). In spring 2020, after examining the offer, the Ministry of Health ordered 10 million gowns for around 45 million euros. There were months of discussions about the award of the contract. The opposition even commissioned its own report on the quality of the gowns – because the clinics supplied had sorted out some batches.

The state government had always emphasized that in the competitive market at the beginning of the pandemic, people were happy to get proper protective materials. First they were collected in a central warehouse at the Düsseldorf exhibition center and distributed from there. At an on-site visit in June 2020, Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) presented pallets full of masks, disposable gowns and disposable gloves.

In the meantime, the protective materials are stored decentrally by the country. The 7.2 million protective gowns also belong to this so-called “state health protection reserve”, which was created for a new pandemic outbreak. According to the ministry, the emergency reserve also includes 4.3 million medical masks, around 800,000 FFP2 masks, 4,000 KN95 masks and 38,000 protective visors. Gloves and disinfectants are no longer in stock.

The durability of most of the protective visors as well as all KN95 masks and almost all protective gowns in stock will expire this year. “If there is no retrieval due to the pandemic and the expiry date is exceeded, thermal recycling (disposal) will take place,” said the Ministry of Health.

In the meantime, there are already things in the so-called “quarantine store” that have expired – or that have been sorted out due to quality defects. According to the ministry, they will be gradually burned. Among them are:

– 9.4 million medical masks

– 1.2 million KN95 masks

– 1.4 million protective gowns

– 1 million goggles

– 728 000 gloves

– 90,000 test sticks

– 30 000 protective visors

Comparatively low: the number of corona tests. According to the ministry, the country has 194,400 in stock: “These have been and will be made available to health facilities.” According to the Ministry of Education, more than 6.4 million tests are still being stored in the country’s schools (as of the end of December). According to the manufacturer, the test kits last 24 months.

Bavarian supplies of masks and protective equipment still well stocked

Sunday. Feb 5, 2023 10:02 am: The Bavarian warehouse for masks and protective equipment is still well stocked. Vaccine from the vaccination centers that were closed at the end of 2022 still has to be distributed.

Since the demand for corona vaccines in Bavaria is only low and the shelf life of the vaccine doses is limited, tens of thousands of doses recently had to be disposed of. According to the ministry, around 155,000 vaccine doses were disposed of from the vaccination centers between October and December 2022 due to an expired sell-by date. At peak times there were 100 vaccination centers in Bavaria. A total of around 14 million doses of vaccine were administered there.

Not only vaccines, but also protective equipment was kept in large numbers in Bavaria. According to the spokeswoman, around 68.5 million masks, more than 200 million protective gloves and around 11 million other protective clothing are currently stored in the so-called pandemic central warehouse. This material also has a limited shelf life. Most of the masks will last until mid-2025. In order to avoid material being left there until the shelf life has expired, there is a “rolling system”. The goods are handed out to clinics and other government agencies in good time before they expire.

In view of the development of the pandemic, the stock was also adjusted. Instead of the previous six months, the store should in future be sufficient for a supply of three months. For this purpose, the number of surgical masks kept was roughly halved to 20 million. In addition to protective equipment, the central warehouse also contains medical devices and equipment for emergency hospitals. This portfolio is also to be evaluated on an ongoing basis.

RKI downgrades the threat from Corona to “moderate”.

Saturday February 4, 2023 at 9:18 am: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has downgraded its assessment of the threat posed by corona infections. “The current risk from Covid-19 for the health of the population in Germany is assessed as moderate overall,” says the current weekly report published on Thursday evening. However, there is still a high number of infections, and the RKI continues to urge caution.

So far, the threat level was classified as “high”. The reason for the downgrading was primarily the significant decrease in the severity of the disease. There is currently no longer any risk of the healthcare system being overburdened. However, the infection pressure from various respiratory diseases, including corona cases, remains high.

“It therefore remains very important to implement the existing recommendations and, if symptoms of a respiratory infection such as a runny nose, sore throat or cough occur, regardless of the vaccination status and also in the case of a negative Covid-19 antigen rapid test result – for three to five days and up to to stay at home if there is a significant improvement in the symptoms,” the RKI warned. In these cases, it is also important to “avoid contacts, especially with older people and people with certain previous illnesses who have an increased risk of a serious course of the disease with respiratory diseases”.

The number of corona-infected people in Germany was estimated at 200,000 to 400,000 for the past fourth calendar week. 68,000 people sought medical advice because of such an infection. Both values ​​have risen again compared to the previous week. The nationwide seven-day incidence of registered corona infections per 100,000 inhabitants rose again by 16 percent. The increase was strongest in people over 80 years of age.

According to the RKI, the nationwide incidence value is currently 93.1. However, many corona cases are no longer reported and registered. Accordingly, the proportion of the virus variant of the Omicron XBB.1.5 type, which first appeared in the USA, has also increased.

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