The Great Coronavirus Experiment - Are German Schools Ready to Reopen?
Schools in Germany are to begin reopening next week, despite the coronavirus pandemic. But many teachers say that too much time has been wasted and that there is still a lack of clear guidelines.
Schools Across Europe Forge Ahead With Reopening Despite Coronavirus Surge
GERMANY: New infections reported per 100,000 people in Germany in the past 14 days marked a 35 percent jump from the number reported in the 14 days prior, according to the latest WHO report Friday. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has also been spiking from around July 8. The country reported 902 new infections on Thursday, according to the latest report from The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's federal health agency. The report said: "In the past few weeks, the number of districts that have not reported any COVID-19 cases over a period of seven days has decreased clearly. In parallel, the COVID-19 incidence has risen in many federal states. This trend is concerning." But schools in Germany began reopening in May and are expected to resume normal operations after the summer.
More digital teaching and learning in international programmes
The German government wants to boost digitisation in international programmes to make courses more competitive. The German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD, will be provided with funding to support a new IP Digital scheme…The Federal Ministry of Education and Research or BMBF is providing DAAD with nearly €5 million (US$5.9) for the next two years to support universities in digitising existing international masters degree programmes.
COVID-19 in Berlin and Germany: What you need to know
Schools will reopen on August 10, following Berlin’s six-week summer vacation. Students and staff must cover their mouths and nose when in school buildings, though not while in classrooms and during instruction. People will no longer be required to keep a 1.5-meter (5 feet) distance from one another, though they should reduce direct physical contact as much as possible…Employees at Berlin schools and day care can be tested for COVID-19 free of charge, regardless if they are showing symptoms. Tests are voluntary.
Socially Distanced Sound
Perhaps the most useful information will come out of an experiment by the University Medical Center Halle (Saale) in Leipzig, Germany, on Aug. 22. As part of a government-sponsored project called "Restart-19," 4,000 virus-free, pop music fans wearing tracking devices will be deployed at a concert by singer Tim Bendzko in a 12,000-seat indoor stadium. They will also be given fluorescent hand disinfectant to help pinpoint frequently touched surfaces. The goal is to discover if there is a safe middle ground between the old "normal" and uneconomical smaller gatherings of a few hundred in larger halls.
American Exceptionalism-- Under Trump
While the C.D.C. was struggling to solve its testing flaws, Germany was rapidly building up its ability to test. Chancellor Angela Merkel, a chemist by training, and other political leaders were watching the virus sweep across northern Italy, not far from southern Germany, and pushed for a big expansion of testing. By the time the virus became a problem in Germany, labs around the country had thousands of test kits ready to use. From the beginning, the government covered the cost of the tests. American laboratories often charge patients about $100 for a test. Without free tests, Dr. Hendrik Streeck, director of the Institute of Virology at the University Hospital Bonn, said at the time, 'a young person with no health insurance and an itchy throat is unlikely to go to the doctor and therefore risks infecting more people.' Germany was soon far ahead of other countries in testing. It was able to diagnose asymptomatic cases, trace the contacts of new patients and isolate people before they could spread the virus. The country has still suffered a significant outbreak. But it has had many fewer cases per capita than Italy, Spain, France, Britain or Canada-- and about one-fifth the rate of the United States.
Masks in class? Many questions as Germans go back to school
As Germany's 16 states start sending millions of children back to school in the middle of the global coronavirus pandemic, the country's famous sense of "Ordnung," or order, has given way to uncertainty, with a hodgepodge of regional regulations that officials acknowledge may or may not work.
Germany: The Failed Beginning of the School Year
Reopening the schools in a federal state with low Corona numbers was going to be easy as pie. Just apply a few rules and go ahead. What could go wrong?
Germany Continues Staggered Return to Classrooms
BERLIN – German children continued on Monday with a staggered return to their classrooms after the summer holidays amid closures due to coronavirus infections and debate over mandatory masks.
Students in Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg and the city-state Berlin resumed classes under hygienic measures drawn up individually by each school according to its needs. … Two schools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were forced to close on Friday just five days after reopening because of new COVID-19 infections.
Why It’s (Mostly) Safe to Reopen the Schools
…After Germany’s Covid-19 caseload peaked on March 28, Angela Merkel’s government carefully reopened schools in May, with class sizes cut in half, one-way hallways, staggered breaks, masks for teachers and free twice-weekly Covid-19 tests for students and teachers. Some schools required masks in hallways and bathrooms but not when seated at desks. A study of 2,045 students and teachers in the German state of Saxony, by researchers at the Technical University of Dresden, found only 12 positive cases of Covid-19. “The dynamics of virus spreading have been overestimated….[and] schools did not become hot spots after reopening,” the university wrote. Reinhard Berner, chief of the department of pediatrics at the university’s hospital, said, “We are going into the summer vacation of 2020 with an immunity status that is no different from that in March 2020,” adding that “children may even act as a brake on infection.”
Germany: Corona Cases at Schools ‘Not Surprising’
There was probably not one person who thought there would be no issues with Corona once the vacations are over, neither at the Berlin Senate, nor at the schools or among parents and school kids. What they expected happened rather quickly. Corona entered several schools in the German capital within a few days.
Concerns grow over rising COVID-19 infections in Germany
…The uptick comes as students are returning to school across the country, adding to concerns.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said restoring economic activity and restarting schools were both critical. He urged Germans not to grow lax about wearing masks or keeping distances, and to practice careful hygiene measures.
When Schools Reopened in Germany, ‘We Swallowed Our Misgivings’
A mother recounted how worried she was sending her children back to in-person classes in the spring. But seeing her son “blossom” and the school’s safety measures eased her concerns.
Schools in Europe Reopen With Little Debate—but More Masks and Distancing
European countries are pushing ahead with reopening schools with in-person learning despite an uptick in Covid-19 cases and new studies suggesting children could be more susceptible to the disease than originally thought. Authorities in France, Germany, the U.K. and Italy are looking to avoid another blanket closure of schools this autumn, relying instead on steps such as social distancing and mask-wearing to contain infections. In case of outbreaks, they plan to shut down only individual classes or schools… In Germany, back-to-school rules vary from state to state. Children in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania must wear masks on school buses and all common areas outside of classrooms. Classes aren’t allowed to mix on school premises. Teachers are encouraged to take complementary coronavirus tests.
Face masks, smaller classes and distanced desks: Europe’s back-to-school plan
The new school year starts on different dates in Germany's 16 federal states. In several northern states, such as Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein, pupils have already returned; in southern states classes traditionally resume in September. Education is a regional competence, meaning each state has a different plan for reopening, but Germany's National Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina has issued guidelines. Its recommendations include mask-wearing for pupils aged 15 or older, small contact groups within schools and continued testing. Some states have made masks compulsory in schools, though North Rhine-Westphalia is so far the only state to mandate mask-wearing in classrooms. Some — such as Schleswig-Holstein — are only recommending masks, while pupils in states such as Brandenburg and Berlin only have to wear them outside their classrooms. Some teachers say the guidelines are insufficient or even contradictory. "Masks are compulsory in the building, but not in the [class]rooms," said one teacher in a Berlin primary school who wanted to remain anonymous, adding that "students come very close to each other in the schoolyard ... It would be best to have a system that divides the [classes] ... so that there are [fewer] students together in one classroom.”
Merkel chaos: Coronavirus tests blunder leaves potential successor damaged, says ex-MEP
ANGELA MERKEL is facing yet more uncertainty about who will take over as German Chancellor next year after widespread criticism of her potential successor's handling of a COVID-19 testing blunder in Bavaria.
Austrade regional market update on the impact of COVID-19
GERMANY - The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) announced the coronavirus bridging aid for students will be extended by one month, meaning students in pandemic-related emergencies could still apply for a non-repayable grant online during September. The grant has a value of up to 500 euros per month. To date, the bridging aid had been limited to the months of June to August.
Schools Can Reopen, Germany Finds, but Expect a ‘Roller Coaster’
With nations determined to return to in-person learning, many will have trouble matching Germany’s formula: Fast and free testing, robust contact tracing and low community spread.
Germany to keep teaching online to prevent spread of coronavirus
German universities are to keep courses largely online in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus. According to private estimates from a senior figure in the German higher education sector, just 10-15% of teaching is likely to be in person in the coming term.
In Germany, early results of school reopenings are hopeful, but it’s ‘messy and imperfect.’
…Germany, which was far less affected at the peak of the pandemic, shuttered schools early on, then moved to a hybrid model of remote and in-classroom learning. Class sizes were smaller, and strict social-distancing rules helped keep infection numbers in check. But now a new experiment is underway: Teachers and students have been summoned back to classes, testing whether the new vigilance is enough.
Coronavirus data 2 weeks into Germany's school year "reassures" expert
Crucially, two weeks in, testing has shown no evidence of anyone contracting the coronavirus within a school. "So far, these are isolated cases and not outbreaks," Valerie Kirchberger, a paediatrician and coordinator of Berlin's testing strategy, led by the Charité university hospital, told a local newspaper. "That reassures me."
Today's coronavirus news: GTA and Ottawa remote most new COVID cases in province; Ontario releases new guidance to parents, educators to help prevent, manage outbreaks
Germany will end mandatory coronavirus tests for travellers returning from high-risk areas abroad and again focus its testing strategy on people with symptoms or possible exposure to COVID-19 patients, the country's health minister said Wednesday.
Health Minister Jens Spahn said that over the summer vacation period the number of virus tests performed in Germany nearly doubled to 900,000 per week, in part to identify people who caught the virus during trips abroad. People coming home from coronavirus risk areas were offered free tests at airports, train stations and highway stops, allowing them to cut short the required two-week quarantine if their result came back negative. Travellers returning from high-risk areas, which include most countries outside the European Union and some regions inside the bloc, will in the future be required to go into mandatory quarantines for at least five days before taking a test, which may no longer be free unless ordered by a doctor.
Coronavirus: The surge in demand for testing after schools returned should have been foreseen
The bottom line, however, is that our testing capacity has not kept pace with the predictable surge in demand caused by schools reopening.
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Germany too was forced to completely or partially close some of its schools or quarantine pupils and teachers within days of the new term two weeks ago. In Berlin, 38 schools have been affected by Covid-19 cases.