Business trips in Germany should only be carried out if absolutely necessary. The approval is the responsibility of the respective head of department. For business trips abroad, which must be questioned even more critically, it is also necessary to report them to the crisis management team of the general administration of the Max Planck Society.

It is possible to obtain certificates of incapacity to work by telephone from your doctor.

Special leave can be granted in the event of daycare and school closures, closures of facilities for persons with disabilities, childcare prohibition due to segregation, as well as school or company holidays ordered by the competent authority for reasons of infection control or in the event of the lifting of compulsory attendance at a school.

From 28 March 2021, the period for granting special leave was initially extended until 30 June 2021.
If you need to use special leave in an emergency, please contact Ms. Franke in Human Resources: personal@we dont want spammpimet.mpg.de

We would like to remind you that it is very helpful to keep a contact diary. In case of an infection, the public health department would query past contacts..
Download: Contact Diary     

Regarding our recommendation to keep a contact diary, we would like to point out here that with the latest update of the Corona Warning App, the function of a contact diary is now available there. Users of the app can voluntarily note down their encounters in it, in order to be able to effectively support the health department in tracing the chains of infection in the event of an infection with the corona virus.

A good compilation of the known facts about the coronavirus can be found on the website of the Robert Koch Institute.

The Authority for Health and Consumer Protection also provides information on the topic, including specific information for Hamburg: https://www.hamburg.com/residents/settle/health/13702364/coronavirus/

The city of Hamburg provides FAQs and general rulings in foreign languages: https://www.hamburg.de/coronavirus/international/

For MPI-M employees: Find further information in the intranet of the Max Planck Society: https://max.mpg.de/News/Pages/Empfehlungen-zum-Umgang-mit-dem-neuen-Corona-Virus-EN.aspx

The Federal Ministry of Health presents three criteria which you should check in case of suspicion. If you have symptoms of a respiratory infection (e.g. coughing) AND have been in a risk area in the last 14 days OR if contact with a person suffering from coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is less than 14 days ago, then contact with a doctor is recommended. Do not go to a doctor's office yourself to avoid infecting other people in an emergency, but call the doctor first (source: Authority for Health and Consumer Protection):

Hotline for Hamburg: +49 40 428 284 000

Medical emergency service (Note: It is best to call from a landline phone. Calls from mobile phones remain on hold longer, as the missing area code means that the local emergency service responsible must be determined first): 116 117

First aid emergency (!only for potentially life-threatening emergencies!): 112

Hamburg residents with relevant symptoms who have recently travelled to affected areas or who have had contact with people who may be infected can obtain advice by telephone at their doctor's surgery or at the numbers listed above. The Hamburg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians is currently preparing the possibility of testing at home after consulting the emergency medical service (116 117) in order to avoid further contact with other people.

Guidelines Covid 19, source: Robert Koch-Institut and WHO

Self-testing at MPI-M, updated April 6, 2021
There will be a maximum of 2 self-tests per week for all staff members who are dependent on working at the Institute, subject to availability.

Self-tests can be collected from Mr. Letscher's office (room B113). If you cannot meet him in person, please write an email to reiner.letscher@we dont want spammpimet.mpg.de and max. 2 tests will be placed in your mailbox.
 

Testing for Covid-19 in Hamburg

List of local test centers in Hamburg (pdf download), Updated March 9, 2021

Source (german only): https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/coronavirus/Wo-es-in-Hamburg-kostenlose-Corona-Schnelltests-geben-soll,schnelltests134.html

In all buildungs, corridors and public places at the MPI-M it is obligatory to wear a medical face masks (FFP2 mask /surgical mask). In need of medical face mask we have deposit FFP2 masks the Postraum of Bundestr. 53.

Access to the buildings:

• Access to the Bundesstrasse 53 is only possible with a card.
• Access to the Bundesstrasse 55, Geomatikum by check-in/check-out personally at the porter lounge per working day.
•  CIS employees need their token to enter the building Bundesstrasse 45a. Other employees of the institute should make an appointment if they want to enter that building.
• At Schäferkampsallee 29 access is by door code as before.

With the amendment of the Infection Protection Act (Infektionsschutzgesetz), nationwide regulations to contain the Corona pandemic came into force on Saturday 24 April.

What is new is that workers are now also obliged to accept the offer of a home office, as long as there are no reasons against it (e.g. lack of space, disturbance at home or inadequate working conditions).

We would like to take this as an opportunity to renew our urgent appeal to work from home, as many of you do already. Please inform your respective group leader if you should work at the Institute for the above mentioned reasons.
Thank you very much.

Hardware: Under the current circumstances you are allowed to take hardware from your MPI-M office with you to set up an ergonomic workplace at home (e.g. flat screen, mouse, keyboard). As we still need to keep track of the hardware please send a mail to help-it@we dont want spammpimet.mpg.de with your name, room (at the MPI), inventory and or serial number of the device.

In order to make a contribution to minimizing contacts even further in the coming weeks, we ask you to work from home whenever possible.

The institute remains open. Information on our supplementary house rules concerning Covid-19:
infection protection and hygiene regulations.

• Do not come to the Institute with signs of a cold.
• Double occupancy of rooms should be avoided. Please coordinate the occupancy of a room with your colleagues.
  The departmental secretariats will also be happy to assist you here.
• Only one person is allowed in the kitchens, lavatories, printerrooms, elevators and postroom.

Selection interviews and hearings in appointment procedures are to be held virtually.

The Library and Information Service for Earth System Research is allowed to open for contactless lending and return according to the new 14th service instruction. Please be aware that you have to order via e-mail and you'll get a collection date for your lending objects.
However, the workstations are unfortunately not usable at this time.

Our current opening hours are:
Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

We are looking forward to your visit!

Best regards
Your BIS Information Team

Contact: bis.erdsystem@we dont want spammpimet.mpg.de

In all buildungs, corridors and public places at the MPI-M it is obligatory to wear a medical face masks (FFP2 mask /surgical mask).

FFP2 masks can be collected from Mr. Letscher's office (room B113). If you cannot meet him in person, please write an email to reiner.letscher@we dont want spammpimet.mpg.de and 3 masks will be put in your mailbox.

The parent-child room can be used in compliance with this hygiene and safety measures:

Seminars and meetings are usually to be held virtually.

The presence of the CIS and Geschäftszimmer (from now on not occupied on Fridays) staff will be reduced without significantly reducing the service.

Please make appointments with CIS via help-it@we dont want spammpimet.mpg.de if you need direct support.
Geschäftszimmer, gz@we dont want spammpimet.mpg.de is also still available for your inquiries.

Business trips in Germany should only be carried out if absolutely necessary. The approval is the responsibility of the respective head of department. For business trips abroad, which must be questioned even more critically, it is also necessary to report them to the crisis management team of the general administration of the Max Planck Society.

Entry requirements are largely uniformly regulated throughout Germany: All persons entering Germany from an official risk area (according to RKI data) must be quarantined for at least 5 days. Only then is a likewise obligatory coronavirus test possible. Quarantine remains mandatory until the result is available.

Entry requirements from new areas of  "variant of concern” and “high incidence areas” must be quarantined for 14 days without respite by testing.

Information on the designation of international risk areas:
New “areas of variant of concern”, “high incidence areas”, “risk areas” and regions that are no longer considered as risk areas are effective from Sunday May 2, 2021, at 0:00 am:
https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/InfAZ/N/Neuartiges_Coronavirus/Transport/Archiv_Risikogebiete/Risikogebiete

Current travel warnings regarding COVID-19 can be found here (only in German):
https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/ReiseUndSicherheit/reise-gesundheit/gesundheit-fachinformationen/reisemedizinische-hinweise/Coronavirus

Further information can be found on the re-open EU pageof the European Union.

Vaccinations against Corona by the company doctor cannot be offered at present. Employees who wish to be vaccinated should continue to make their own arrangements for vaccination appointments at the vaccination centres and/or with their general practitioners, depending on the prioritisation situation.

Who is currently eligible for vaccination can be found on the following website (unfortunately not in English):
https://www.hamburg.de/corona-impfung/

In principle the MPI-M is not allowed to host visitors or guests for the moment.