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School in Corona times: Numerous infections lead to closings in NRW - hundreds in quarantine

2020-08-15T20:16:00.311Z


More and more federal states are starting the new school year. However, the situation remains precarious in the Corona crisis. In North Rhine-Westphalia institutions even have to close again.


More and more federal states are starting the new school year. However, the situation remains precarious in the Corona crisis. In North Rhine-Westphalia institutions even have to close again.

  • North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) , Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein started the new school year a few days ago.
  • Numerous corona cases are already leading to closings in NRW.
  • There is criticism of Angela Merkel's (CDU) school summit from the opposition .

Update from August 15, 9:40 p.m.: According to a picture report, the new school year in North Rhine-Westphalia begins with some other rigorous measures. Two schools were temporarily closed due to corona cases , and ten others had partial closings of classes or study groups . 14 school classes were sent home.

The latter cases concern the Arnsberg administrative district in the Sauerland , where 23 infections had occurred by Friday. 358 people related to schools are in quarantine . "It is important that in the future not every infection in the vicinity of schools automatically leads to a complete school closure, but that the responsible authorities are also examining milder measures," NRW school secretary Mathias Richter is quoted as saying.

School start in Corona crisis: “What comes out?” Green leader Baerbock attacks Merkel head-on - and demands

Update from August 15, 10.13 a.m.: From the point of view of the Greens boss Annalena Baerbock, all teachers and educators should be tested for the Sars-CoV-2 virus * after the vacation . "There are now test offers in many federal states - however voluntarily and randomly ," Baerbock told the newspapers of the Funke media group . "The first casualties of schools and day care centers after the summer holidays show, in my view, that every teacher and every educator who come from vacation should be checked first." While children and young people for pandemic protection under vintages were separated, alternated at many schools the teachers from class to class .

The meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) , SPD leader Saskia Esken and several ministers of education on digitization in schools came too late from Baerbock's point of view and did not produce sufficient results. "Half a year after the start of the pandemic, the Chancellor sat down with the SPD leader and some education ministers to consider what could be done," she said. "What comes out? A laptop for every teacher, as a declaration of intent. ”There should have been common guidelines with the federal states long ago , money and support for schools and daycare centers as well as help with the staff.

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Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and Annalena Baerbock (Greens)

© Kay Nietfeld / dpa

School start despite Corona: In Corona hotspots with mask compulsory - first schools already closed again

Update from August 13, 8:26 a.m.: The school holidays are over in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia . In the coronavirus pandemic , the way back to normal is sought, schools reopened. Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) has chosen a special path in NRW and introduced a mask requirement in schools. But not only because of the masks for starting school in the heat wave there was excitement on the first day of school. Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia are among those federal states in which the corona pandemic is currently threatening to get out of control again. And the first cases in schools have already been reported in both federal states - the first facilities have already had to close again.

For example, because of a corona case , a secondary school in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, is on the first day of the new school year - the school simply remained closed. A teacher was infected and is in quarantine, said a spokesman for the district health office on Wednesday. The teacher took part in several conferences the days before school started. A total of 43 contact persons have been identified who are now being tested. School was not possible on Wednesday due to a lack of staff.

Coronavirus: School start in the pandemic - first facilities already closed again

In Berlin , too , the first school closed again shortly after the summer holidays due to a possible Corona case. As in NRW, the possible corona infection is a teacher. The district announced on Thursday that it had tested positive for Sars-CoV-2 . The confirmation of the health department is still pending. The RBB had previously reported. "It is a precautionary, probably one-day closure of this one school," said the Senate Department for Education on Thursday.

Berlin had followed the example of North Rhine-Westphalia and revived the start of school with a mask requirement - but without a minimum distance . The move was highly controversial. Among other things, the education union GEW had criticized an opening in this form as negligent and called for smaller learning groups and a mixture of face-to-face teaching and home learning. In turn, despite the corona pandemic, the economy had spoken out in favor of starting school with face-to-face classes for all students.

School start despite Corona: Pupils take place again in hotspot countries - first schools closed again on the first day

Update from August 12, 2:07 p.m .: The big experiment has started. Schools in North Rhine-Westphalia resumed operations this Wednesday . In Cologne alone, everyday life has changed completely for around 152,000 schoolchildren due to new rules and mask requirements . The Cologne schools have adapted to the new situation.

Schooling celebrations did take place, but only under strict conditions , as the Kölner Express reports. For example, some institutions decided to greet the new students with a delay in small groups, while others moved the event to the open air . There are also strict rules for those who have been at the school for a long time. Thus masks in compulsory education - despite sweltering heat. It is important to get to your own seat as quickly as possible and then stay there. The doors of many classrooms remain open so that the door handle is not touched unnecessarily, according to the Cologne Express . In addition, there is good ventilation , regular hand washing and as much distance as possible. The measures do not necessarily meet with approval from the students. "I think it will be a bit stupid," a 16-year-old student told the Kölner Blatt.

Coronavirus: In NRW, the school starts with a nationwide mask requirement

First report from August 12th: Düsseldorf - It's the dress rehearsal : In North Rhine-Westphalia ( August 12th ) after six and a half weeks of summer vacation, regular school operations in the corona pandemic * will start again. The whole of Germany is looking to see if and how the special route of the most populous federal state works - because nationwide mask compulsory in class has so far only existed here. The only exceptions to this are elementary and special schools.

Not only the conditions for students and teachers on site are under close observation, but also the entire corona crisis management of Prime Minister Armin Laschet * (CDU), which has been heavily controversial from the start . “We have to be particularly careful these days,” Laschet justifies his course. Therefore, the NRW-wide mask requirement, initially limited to the end of August, is correct. In other federal states, this regulation only applies to individual schools.

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North Rhine-Westphalia will start regular school operations again after the summer holidays.

© Guido Kirchner / dpa

Coronavirus in North Rhine-Westphalia: 2.5 million students are returning to regular operations - parents and teachers' associations are concerned

Several teachers and parents' associations had expressed concerns about the return of the around 2.5 million pupils to regular operations at 2500 schools across the country , because, in their opinion, insufficient care was taken to protect against infection * in large classes.

Among other things, the education and science union - like the state parliament opposition - misses intelligent concepts for equalizing teaching, for example through “shift work” and outdoor activities . What if masses of schoolchildren in North Rhine-Westphalia are now infected with the Sars-Cov-2 virus * , schools have to be closed and the number of infections, which has been increasing for weeks, necessitate severe restrictions on public life ?

Mask requirement in school: "A lot is at stake for Armin Laschet at the moment"

"A lot is at stake for Armin Laschet at the moment," states political scientist Ulrich von Alemann . His "relaxation exercises" in Corona crisis management were "not well received by the population and in the Union," he told the dpa. "It remains to be seen whether he will be able to score points with tough school management and new, strict protective requirements."

After all, Laschet currently has to prove himself in the “triathlon” for popularity among the population, the party leadership of the CDU and the candidacy for chancellor for the Union. After Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder * (CSU) had left the NRW Prime Minister far behind in the polls in terms of popularity and suitability for chancellor , it was "almost impossible" to catch up with this lead, said von Alemann.

Start of school in NRW: Laschet in the "corona-political blind flight"?

A fiasco in the corona crisis management at schools, which directly affects millions of parents, teachers and students in NRW, would not be a recommendation for higher ordinations. The opposition leader in the Düsseldorf state parliament, Thomas Kutschaty , already sees Laschet "in the corona-political blind flight". So far, the black-and-yellow state government was mainly noticed by its "back and forth", said the SPD parliamentary group leader of the dpa .

"After Armin Laschet clearly hit the wall with his easing course, he is now suddenly the hardliner at the start of school," said the former NRW Minister of Justice . "In the USA this is called a flip-flopper ." After the state government failed to implement a consistent test strategy at an early stage, the mask requirement in schools is now "unfortunately necessary".

Continue to be careful and mindful - #NRWcanndas. The #Corona Protection Ordinance was extended to August 31st today. Important: the mask requirement remains. In buses and trains there is a threat of a fine of 150 euros for people who refuse to wear a mask. #corona pic.twitter.com/Z7A20Rp7Rv

- State Chancellery NRW (@landnrw) August 11, 2020

School despite Corona in North Rhine-Westphalia: Mask requirement "recommended" - or "superfluous disability"?

This is disputed nationwide among teachers, parents, doctors and scientists. While the Marburger Bund sees the mask requirement in class as a senseless, “superfluous disability” , a group of renowned scientists classifies it as recommendable in a statement by the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

It is also controversial whether entire schools should be closed after corona infections. "If a corona case appears in a school, the school does not have to be closed for 14 days," said medical president Klaus Reinhardt of the Rheinische Post . It is enough if individual classes or courses stay at home.

Laschet wants school operation despite Corona: dress rehearsal for Berlin?

At least no political party or well-known association in North Rhine-Westphalia has spoken out in favor of staying at a distance when learning to be on the safe side and going back to home schooling . School Minister Yvonne Gebauer (FDP) admits that not all students could be taken with them in the weeks leading up to the holidays, but that educational disadvantages had arisen . The state student council has also warned against this.

NRW is starting the new school year as the sixth state after Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg and Berlin. Laschet's entire political existence is not at stake with the outcome of the full school operation experiment in the Corona year , emphasized von Alemann. "If Söder presents his Bavarian office as the most beautiful in the world, why doesn't Laschet do the same?" In North Rhine-Westphalia he was "at least not challenged so far". (dpa / AFP / frs) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital editorial network.

List of rubric lists: © Julian Stratenschulte / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-08-15

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