Coronavirus: Current Measures and Recommendations

Dear Colleagues and Staff Members,

We are sending you this e-mail to give you an update on the following news:

1. Contact tracing regulations for advising appointments 
2. Coronavirus signs, PowerPoint slides and videoconference backgrounds available for download

1. Contact tracing regulations for advising appointments  

The state-wide coronavirus measures for higher education institutions in the Land of Baden-Württemberg will from now on be compiled in a new coronavirus decree for higher education and arts as a supplementary document to the general Corona Ordinance (CoronaVO).

In case you are offering advising appointments on campus, please note that it is no longer sufficient to only store participants’ e-mail addresses. In order for the local health authority to be able to reach all individuals swiftly and reliably in cases of suspected infection, you are required to collect participants’ telephone number instead of their e-mail address. Please store these data, combined with information about the time the appointment took place, for four weeks, and delete the data afterwards in line with the GDPR provisions.

The easiest way to collect and store this data is to use the Typo3 plug-in for appointments that was designed and made available by the University IT. If you enable the option for collecting contact information for contact tracing in the plug-in, all data including the telephone number will automatically be stored for four weeks and then be deleted. You can find out how to access the stored data in the instructions for the appointment tool (only available in German) here: https://www.uni-mannheim.de/marketing/leistungen/online/typo3-handbuch/plug-ins/terminanmeldung/.

2. Coronavirus signs, PowerPoint slide and videoconference backgrounds available for download
You can now find posters with the most important rules of conduct for students and employees at all central entrances of the university. If you need additional posters for your institution, you can now download and print such signs from the intranet. On the same intranet page, you also have the option to download a PowerPoint slide with relevant rules of conduct to insert in your presentations. Zoom and Microsoft Teams backgrounds for your video conferences or lectures are now also available for download.

As usual, we will keep you up to date about the most important changes via e-mail. Please also make sure to frequently check the university website and the intranet for further updates on the coronavirus situation.

Sincerely,

Barbara Windscheid

Dear Colleagues,
dear Fellow Students,
dear Sir or Madam,

The President's Office decided to end the closure of the university buildings by 31 August 2020. From that date onwards, all members and affiliates of the university will be able to access the university buildings again. This decision forms the basis for on-campus classes, which will be conducted in the upcoming fall semester 2020/21 to complement digital teaching. Most on-campus classes will be offered for first-year students, so that they can get used to university life.

The University Library is also taking further steps to open its libraries.  This will already happen on Monday, 3 August 2020. From this date onwards, all user groups will be able to enter the Schloss Ehrenhof Library and the A3 Library from Mondays to Fridays from 10 am to 8 pm (except for public holidays) and there will be more seats available. The central lending desk will also open from 3 August 2020 onwards, Mondays to Fridays from noon until 6 pm (except for public holidays).

Members and affiliates of the University of Mannheim are still able to reserve a seat in the libraries in Schloss Ehrenhof and A3. However, as long as free seats are available, these can also be used without a seat reservation. The current number of free seats can be looked up on the websites of the University Library. Registered users of the library, who are neither members nor affiliates of the University of Mannheim, can also use these two libraries from 3 August onwards. However, they have to reserve a seat in advance. All user groups can access the central lending desk without prior reservation.

We will electronically record all individuals entering and leaving the open libraries via their ecUM Card or library card. This enables us to verify access rights, calculate the number of available seats and contact you later on in case of a coronavirus infection. In doing so, we will comply with data protection regulations.

The hygiene regulations of the University Library remain in force. For more information on the hygiene regulations and the opening of the libraries as well as the central lending desk, please visit https://www.bib.uni-mannheim.de/corona/.

Literature from the A5 Library or the Business Administration Library can still be used in the A3 Library. The other library services, which were offered due to the coronavirus crisis (scan service for staff members and students of the University of Mannheim, borrowing items with mail dispatch for university employees and more digital offers) will be continued.

As part of our opening process of the university buildings, we would also like to take further steps for the opening of the libraries for members and affiliates of the university from the end of August onwards if the infection rates allow. It is our goal to open all libraries by the end of September for the start of the fall semester and to offer longer opening hours.

In order to ensure that the valid hygiene regulations of the university are followed during the opening process of the university buildings and the on-campus classes, the President's Office initiated a communication concept and is taking extensive measures to inform people about the binding hygiene regulations when they enter the building or use the lecture halls and seminar rooms. Inside the building, we will display clear signs as well as electronic and printed information to remind people of the rules of the hygiene policy.

We are currently finalizing how you will be able to make use of the counseling services and the other offices of the central university administration (e.g. in L1) and will inform you about your options by mid-August at the latest.

We would like to ask you for your support, discipline and commitment, as we are doing our best to open our university and make on-campus operations possible again. We want everyone spending time in the university buildings - in the library, in seminars or doing sports - to be as safe as possible when performing their job: teaching, studying and researching.

We thank you for your support and help.

Kind regards,

Prof. Dr. Thomas Puhl                   Barbara Windscheid                       Dr. Sabine Gehrlein
President                                       Executive Vice President                Director of the University Library

Dear Colleagues and Staff Members,

The on-campus operations of the University of Mannheim have been possible in a restricted form for about two weeks now. We are pleased that meetings and events can also generally be held on-campus again, if the hygiene policy and the coronavirus decree are observed.

In order to support you in planning and conducting on-campus events and meetings in the current situation, the task force created a guideline with the most important information on procedures and regulations when conducting events. You can find this guideline enclosed to this e-mail. Please take note that the outlined regulations must be observed and that all rooms for on-campus events must be booked via the Service and Marketing GmbH until the beginning of the lecture period on 28 September 2020. 

By working together in these difficult times and by adhering to the regulations and the hygiene policy of the university, we all help to keep infection rates low in our region and to avoid another period with severe restrictions.

Kind regards,

Barbara Windscheid
Executive Vice President

When it comes to working in times of the coronavirus pandemic, the safety and health of our employees comes first. Safety at work is key in this regard. In light of the present epidemiological situation, this hygiene policy lays out the necessary measures that must be followed by all employees within the buildings, premises and vehicles of the university. The rules for employees apply analogously to all students and other university members unless special regulations are in place for certain groups of persons.

The hygiene policy is regularly adapted to the latest provisions and recommendations of the public authorities and to the corresponding coronavirus measures taken or adapted by the university and their impact on the restrictions for the university.

In order to prevent possible further transmission,

• please watch your distance (1,5 meters), and
• please wear a face mask, and
• please pay attention to proper hand hygiene and
• cough and sneeze etiquette (cover your mouth with your bent elbow or tissue when coughing/sneezing),
• avoid shaking hands,
• avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth, and
• regularly air rooms.

Face masks
In situations where it is not possible to maintain the minimum distance of 1.5 meters to other people, employees must wear face masks to cover their mouths and noses. For this purpose, the university supplies its employees with suitable mouth and nose protection. The same applies for employees who have contact to customers or a large number of other people in the scope of their job. Students are individually responsible for securing appropriate mouth and nose protection.

In circulation areas (hallways, staircases) and in communal rooms (washrooms, kitchenettes) of university buildings, employees must wear non-surgical cloth face masks or comparable mouth and nose coverings, regardless of the availability of protective masks. In light of the limited stock of such masks, employees are asked to use their own cloth face masks for this purpose.

Using the Corona-Warn-App
The university management recommends using the Corona-Warn-App of the Federal Government.

Additional Tips
Additional tips on hygiene measures can be found on the websites of the Federal Centre for Health Education, BZgA (in German).

Moreover, please stay up-to-date on the situation and inform yourself on the websites of the Robert Koch Institute regularly and consider the current information and recommendations.

In case of any questions, please contact the occupational medical service of the University of Mannheim. Please direct concrete medical questions via e-mail to amd(at)uni-mannheim.de. In case you would like a phone appointment with the physician of the occupational medical service, please send an e-mail with the subject “coronavirus” to bgm(at)verwaltung.uni-mannheim.de.

In order to implement the Hygiene Policy, the assembly and filling of permanently installed disinfectant dispensers at the main entrances to the university buildings will be organized centrally. In addition, Department IV provides centrally financed and stocked protection and hygiene articles. Information on ordering can be found on the website of Department IV (in German).

On the intranet, you will find bilingual signs with behavioral rules and recommendations during the coronavirus pandemic. Please download, print and put up them up in your work area if applicable.

Business trips to risk areas
Business tripsto risk areas are currently not allowed (please see the decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs on quarantine measures for entering and returning to the Land of Baden-Württemberg in order to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus). This also applies to business trips that were already approved, provided that the country or the region was classified as a risk area after the approval of the business trip. In case a region or country is classified as a risk area after you traveled there for your business trip, please contact the head of Division V immediately.

Please inform yourself about the development of the coronavirus pandemic in your destination and about possible travel restrictions before and during your business trip. Please also take note of the information from the Federal Foreign Office (in German), the Robert Koch Institute (in German) and the Ministry of Social Affairs (in German).

Mandatory testing and quarantine
Since 8 August 2020, all persons entering Baden-Württemberg by air, sea or land must get tested for the coronavirus in case they spent time in a risk area at any point in time during the 14 days prior to their arrival in Baden-Württemberg. All persons are obliged to self-quarantine immediately until they receive a negative test result. The local health authority decides when a person is allowed to end quarantine.

Persons who hold a medical certificate with a negative test result that is not older than 48 hours when entering Baden-Württemberg are exempt from mandatory testing and quarantine.

Should the coronavirus situation worsen during your business trip and the region or country that you are in is classified as a risk area after you arrive, you must observe the current regulations for entering and returning to Baden-Württemberg.

What this means for you: Please do not come to the university as long as the local health authority did not decide to end your mandatory quarantine or if you did not hold a negative text result when you entered Baden-Württemberg. Should you have questions regarding retuning to your workplace at the University of Mannheim, please contact the head of Division V (from home).

Business trips to non-risk areas
We would like to ask you not to take any business trips until further notice, even if these take place in regions (also within Germany) and countries that currently are not classified as risk areas.

In exceptional cases in which it is necessary to participate in a business trip in a non-risk area for work-related purposes, an individual decision can be made upon request. For such an individual decision to be made, we need the following documents in advance:

1) the written justification of the superior why the trip is necessary and why the purpose of the business trip cannot be achieved by participating in digital form and

2) the confirmation of the traveling staff member that they will adhere to the valid hygiene regulations of the University of Mannheim during the business trip and their stay.

3) For business trips abroad, we recommend that you buy private travel health insurance. Please inform us for the individual decision if you bought travel health insurance.

Please submit all relevant documents in due time and take into account that the processing time for approving the business trip is two weeks. Please note that the general insurance coverage and the option for reimbursement are subject to the approval of the business trip. In order to submit such a request and in case you have any other questions regarding business trips, please contact the travel expenses team of Division V.

Voucher refund
Various transport companies are forced by the coronavirus regulations to cancel planned business trips and are now offering refunds in form of vouchers instead of cash. Please do not accept a voucher before you get in touch with out travel expenses office. Your contact person is Ms. Lechner.

The University IT (UNIT) is working hard to expand its digital services to compensate for the suspension of classroom teaching through digital teaching formats, and to enable all employees who currently work in the home office to cooperate as effectively as possible. A summary of all news and updates on these two topics can be found on this website.

During the last months, the Central Administration and the University IT have joined forces to ensure that the administration services run smoothly and to make personal consultations possible - even under coronavirus constraints and without any direct face-to-face contact. You can book advising appointments with the staff members of the administration via Microsoft Teams. Booking virtual meetings with several persons is also possible.

Online appointments
You now also have the option to book appointments with the responsible advisors online. You can find a link to book appointments online in the contact information of the respective contact person. For matters regarding student affairs, it is possible to book appointments on the web pages of Division II. For matters regarding human resources or other topics of Division V, you can send appointment requests via the intranet page of Division V. Persons who are not employed at the university can use the online contact form on the web page of Division V to get in touch. For infection control reasons and due to the room conditions, these appointments will primarily take place via MS Teams or telephone. In special cases, appointments may also be possible in person.

Signing contracts
Wherever possible, contracts will be concluded either electronically or by (internal) mail. If this is not possible, for instance in the case of employment contracts, you will receive an individual appointment in person.

Requesting certificates
The Central Administration are happy to send you confirmations and certificates either electronically or by (internal) mail.

Submitting documents
You can send files and documents either electronically or, if an original is required, by (internal) mail to the Central Administration.

Since the re-opening of the buildings, all technical equipment and systems can be used as in times before the start of the pandemic. Special regulations only apply to the following systems:

Elevators
Elevators may only be used by one person at a time and should only be used by people with reduced mobility or to transport heavy loads.

Janitor
All janitors are working during their regular working hours and can be contacted as usual.

Reception Desk
The Reception Desk at the main entrance is occupied by two persons at all times (24 hours / 7 days a week). In case of any questions or problems, please contact the hotline of the Reception Desk by calling 181-1110.

Ventilation systems
The ventilation systems are operated under special regulations.

All measures of the University of Mannheim aim at minimizing the risk of infection and stopping the further spread of the coronavirus. However, it is impossible to guarantee full protection. According to the latest scientific knowledge, the coronavirus is primarily transmitted through droplets. Airing generally reduces the risk of infection through aerosols and therefore plays a vital role in our concept to slow the spread of the coronavirus. For this reason, we recommend to air rooms frequently with as much fresh outdoor air as possible.

At the University of Mannheim, all commonly used rooms and offices can at least be aired by manually opening the windows. Larger rooms with a possible seating capacity of more than 50 persons are usually equipped with a ventilation system. When using such large rooms, ventilation systems (RLT systems) are absolutely necessary from a hygiene and energetic point of view to fulfill the legal requirements.

RLT systems ensure a high level of safety, because they purify the incoming air from outside with filters to separate small particles. As a result, the secure supply of purified air in an RLT system dilutes possible contaminations and lowers the number of viruses in a room. Furthermore, special zones and pressure controls ensure that contaminants from outgoing air of a room cannot spread throughout the whole building. In addition, RLT systems can be operated in every weather condition.

Find more information on the RLT ventilation system on the intranet.

In order to minimize the risk of infection, the university management has instructed all superiors to make sure the adopted measures are implemented in their respective divisions and departments. Implementation of the measures must be documented. The form for risk assessment, which you can find on the intranet, is intended to be a checklist for superiors and is to support help them fulfill their responsibility in this regard.

The necessary measures that superiors need to implement before their employees return to the workplace include a safety training regarding the fundamentals of the hygiene policy. The safety training needs to take place on the employees’ first day back at their offices at the latest. Participation in the online safety training needs to be documented by means of a signature and needs to be forwarded to the superior. Please find the respective form on the intranet.

Employees can carry out office work either from home or at the office. Insofar as it is possible in terms of technical equipment and the type of work, employees can continue to work from home. This will be decided by their superiors upon prior discussion with the employees. It is not necessary to hand in an application for telework. Employees from risk groups should still work primarily from home.

Paid leave
In the few cases where working from home is not an option, we ask the responsible superiors to grant their employees a paid leave of absence for the period of emergency operations. The extent of the leave of absence must then be documented. For more information, please see the coronavirus topic page on the intranet.

Employees who belong to the at-risk group
Employees who belong to the at-risk group are to work from home exclusively. If this is not possible, employees are to reduce their accrued overtime before they receive a paid leave. 

Home office regulations
Due to the exceptional situation, working from home can be approved by your superior alone and, until further notice, does not need additional approval from the human resources department. The approval may be recalled by your superior at any time.

Moreover, employees need to be reachable in their home offices. Office phones can be forwarded to private lines.

Check e-mails several times a day
In this exceptional situation, it is crucial that we keep communicating with all our staff members. This also applies to those among you who are currently working at home or have taken leave of absence. This is the only way to ensure that important information and new necessary measures can be communicated to all employees in due time and can be followed accordingly. Therefore, all staff members are required to check their e-mails at least once, but preferably several times a day. They must also ensure that they can be reached by telephone during the usual office hours.

Taking home materials from your office
Documents containing personal data and original documents need to remain at the university. Please make sure to return any working materials to the university, once you come back after this crisis is behind us.

In the fall semester 2020/21, classes will be mainly held online. For individual groups (e.g. first-year students) some classes will be held on campus.

You can find guidelines for on-campus classes and meetings in the rooms of the University of Mannheim on the intranet.

The university IT has created a website that summarises all news and updates concerning the switch to digital teaching.

On their website, the Department of Gender Equality and Social Diversity has compiled a number of useful links on various topics  – all of them are related to the issue of reconciling family and career or family and studies during the coronavirus crisis.

The university post office is open for you from 7 a.m. to noon. You do not need to make an appointment in advance.Please maintain the mandatory distance when picking up your mail and wait in front of the post office in case a colleague is already inside.

The forms of examination for the fall semester 2020/21 are currently being planned. It can be assumed that there will again be a combination of online and in-person examinations. The respective form of examination should be communicated at the latest at the beginning of the course.

Alternative forms of examination will be offered to all students who are not able to take an in-person examination, e.g. because they belong to a risk group.

Private trips to risk areas
It is your private decision if you travel a risk area in your private time. Upon returning, you must observe the valid regulations for entering and returning to Baden-Württemberg, which currently imply mandatory testing and quarantine.

Since 8 August 2020, all persons entering Baden-Württemberg by air, sea or land must get tested for the coronavirus in case they spent time in a risk area at any point in time during the 14 days prior to their arrival in Baden-Württemberg. All persons are obliged to self-quarantine immediately until they receive a negative test result. The local health authority decides when a person is allowed to end quarantine.

Persons who hold a medical certificate with a negative test result that is not older than 48 hours when entering Baden-Württemberg are exempt from mandatory testing and quarantine.

Please bear in mind that you have to check with your superior/s that not only your vacation/absence is approved but also the following absence due to the mandatory quarantine.

In this context, we would like to point out that we cannot grant you paid leave while you are in mandatory quarantine, since this absence is based on your private decision. For this reason, you have to check with your superior/s if you can take days of leave for the duration of the quarantine or if - for some or all of that time - you can work from home, use overtime hours, or if unpaid leave is an option. If the interests of the university generally allow that the days in quarantine can be taken off directly after the holiday, this period must be covered by one of the measures mentioned above or by a combination of these. Paid leave is not possible. In cases of doubt, please contact the head of Division V.

Please inform yourself about the development of the coronavirus pandemic in your destination and about possible travel restrictions before and during your private trip. Please also take note of the information from the Federal Foreign Office (in German), the Robert Koch Institute (in German) and the Ministry of Social Affairs (in German).

Should the coronavirus situation worsen during your private trip and the region or country that you are in is classified as a risk area after you arrive, you must observe the current regulations for entering and returning to Baden-Württemberg. Should you have questions regarding retuning to your workplace at the University of Mannheim, please contact the head of Division V (from home).

The maximum number of people that are currently allowed to assemble within the university buildings and premises is adapted according to the current Corona Ordinance (CoronaVO) of the Land of Baden-Württemberg. The current version of the CoronaVO determines that a maximum number of 20 people are currently allowed to assemble within the university buildings and premises during internal university events, gatherings and meetings (CoronaVO, as at 10 June 2020). The regulations to protect employees from infection and the regulations laid out in the hygiene policy must be observed. Suitable rooms and the corresponding maximum number of people allowed in accordance with the hygiene measures can be found on Portal². You can also book the rooms there. Further guidelines on hosting events are available on the intranet.

Internal events
Meetings in the context of research activities and job interviews may be held in person, provided that no more than the maximum number of people allowed in accordance with the CoronaVO take part and the general hygiene regulations are observed. For university events taking place outside the university, the hygiene policy of the University of Mannheim as well as the hygiene policy of the receiving institution have to be observed. Other events, especially sports or cultural events, are subject to the current version of the CoronaVO and must be approved by the President’s Office.
Meetings of university bodies should still be held digitally wherever possible.

General information on classroom safety can be found on the intranet.

External events
Events, especially sports or cultural events, are subject to the current version of the CoronaVO and must be approved by the President’s Office. Please note that the public are still not allowed to enter university buildings. Exceptions to this rule are visits to the library, participation in examinations and approved events.

Up-to-date information on the opening of the library can be found on the website of the university library.

Events, especially sports or cultural events, are subject to the current version of the CoronaVO and must be approved by the President’s Office. Please note that the public are still not allowed to enter university buildings. Exceptions to this rule are visits to the library, participation in examinations and approved events.