Fewer than every 1000th daycare educator has had an infection with the coronavirus recognized as an occupational disease in the past few months.
According to studies, kindergarten teachers are the occupational group most affected by Covid-19.
By the beginning of March, only 1,864 educators in all of Germany had reported suspected corona to the BGW professional association responsible for private daycare centers.
706 of these reports have so far been recognized as an occupational disease - with almost one million insured daycare teachers.
This is what the BGW wrote at the request of BuzzFeed News Deutschland *.
In nursing, on the other hand, around 20 times as many occupational diseases have been recognized for a similar number of insured persons.
You can find the entire article on the coronavirus occupational disease here at BuzzFeed News Germany.
Coronavirus: Also for educators: an occupational disease
The low numbers are particularly astonishing because daycare teachers are particularly often affected by Covid-19.
A study by Germany's largest health insurance company, AOK, at the end of December shows that in the first six months of the pandemic, daycare teachers were most often sick due to coronavirus symptoms from all occupational groups - even more often than employees in medical operations.
Anyone who has an infection with the coronavirus recognized as an occupational disease or an occupational accident is entitled to better medical care and, in the event of long-term consequences, possibly also to a pension.
Independent advice centers for occupational diseases in Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin criticize the lack of attention for the topic.
The advice center in Bremen writes of "great ignorance" and calls for more information from employers, company doctors, trade associations and trade supervisory authorities.
"The need for information is still very high here and there is completely insufficient information on the subject," write the Hamburg experts.
The Berlin counseling center writes that employees outside the health sector are even worse informed.
Few would learn by chance that they can be compensated.
"Great ignorance": Advice centers criticize the information gap on coronavirus as an occupational disease
What the advisors notice: Employers are not fulfilling their duty to report possible occupational diseases and accidents at work.
So far, writes the Bremen counseling center, “the reports on Corona have mainly been submitted by doctors, less or not at all by employers.” Berliners are also repeatedly reported that employers are not reliably fulfilling their obligations.
Reasons are, among other things, that employers are afraid to admit “that occupational safety regulations have not been observed or not implemented.” And that employees fear for their jobs or do not want to denigrate employers.
Employers would actually be responsible for reporting.
But by the end of January, there were around 2.2 million infections with the coronavirus in Germany at that time, only just under 65,000 reports of suspected occupational disease or an accident at work.
This is shown by figures from the German Social Accident Insurance in response to a request from Left Bundestag member Jutta Krellmann.
Can only three percent of all corona diseases in Germany be traced back to an infection in the workplace?
DGB on coronavirus occupational diseases: "This shoddy practice must be over"
The German Federation of Trade Unions encourages employees to report accidents at work and occupational diseases themselves, even if the employer refuses.
"We are told that those affected are being brushed off by their employers," writes DGB federal executive Anja Piel.
“This shabby practice must be over.” The DGB recommends that those affected document themselves if minimum distances were not observed or masks could not be worn.
“This is extremely important for the recognition process later,” writes Piel.
“Because many corona sufferers suffer from blatant long-term consequences, they need the best treatment.
Therefore, Corona must be recognized as an occupational disease for all professional groups, "writes the Left Bundestag member Jutta Krellmann.
The Green Member of the Bundestag Beate Müller-Gemmeke is also calling for the recognition to be expanded.
"Everywhere where people work closely with people, i.e. in hospitals, social work, in kindergartens, schools, at the police station or in prisons, and where the risk of being infected for work-related reasons is very high, the Covid-19 infection must be recognized as an occupational disease. "
FDP federal politician Andrew Ullman does not believe that there is “an acute need for action” when it comes to the recognition of corona infections, but he writes that “employers in particular should take care to protect their employees.” The SPD parliamentary group writes down Request that those affected should be better informed.
References on the websites of the employers' liability insurance association were not sufficient.
"The reference to the possibility of recognition as an occupational disease or work-related accident must be addressed directly to the companies and to the employees." The CDU did not comment on request.
The Federal Ministry of Labor writes that the responsible medical expert advisory board for occupational diseases is currently examining whether other occupations can report an infection as an occupational disease in the future. * BuzzFeed News Germany is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
BuzzFeed News Germany continues its research on occupational diseases, occupational health and safety and labor exploitation. You can reach the editors at recherche@buzzfeed.de
