Second Open letter from the President regarding the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)

Update: 12 March 2020, 5:15 am

Second Open letter from the President regarding the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) of 11 March 2020

Dear Professors, Staff and Students,

Dear Members of the University Community,

A meeting took place this afternoon with representatives from the Chemnitz Department of Health, and it was recommended that the entire university make use of the capability to telecommute or work from home, if it is at all possible and if it does not affect core processes of the university. This temporary measure will enable working remotely after consultation with the respective supervisor, without any other special application or approval required.

Courses will be canceled until further notice. Sessions, committee meetings, etc. should be reviewed to ensure that their taking place is absolutly necessary.

According to current assessments of the situation, class will not be in session on 6 April 2020. Further information will be announced at a later date.

Events with more than 1,000 participants will be prohibited, according to the decree made by the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs. This will come into effect as of 12 March 2020 at 8:00am and will continue indefinitely. All other events must be reviewed to ensure that they need to take place. Otherwise, the procedures as noted above will, in continued consultation with the Chemnitz Department of Health, apply until further notice.

If you have returned from trips to high-risk areas, I ask that you please avoid contact with other people, do not come into work, and contact a doctor by phone and ask for advice. In addition, I ask that you contact our human resources department by telephone (+49 371 531-12200) and only come back to work after the threat of being infected with the virus has been ruled out. If this is the case, we will see to what extent we can make it possible for you to work from home.

I would like to make it abundantly clear that the situation in the city of Chemnitz as well as at Chemnitz University of Technology has not changed at the present time. All measures being instituted are exclusively preventive.

We will certainly inform you immediately of any changes or new developments.

With kind regards

Yours Gerd Strohmeier

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Current updates on the coronavirus in Chemnitz:

(10 March 2020, 4:20 pm) There are now three confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Chemnitz. According to the city's public affairs office, the virus is unlikely to be passed on, as the affected people were immediately put into quarantine upon their return.

In addition, an employee from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration is currently being tested for infection with the coronavirus. He will, in any case, be staying at home until the test results are returned (no quarantine). As a preventative measure, work in this area will be done remotely until 11 March 2020.

We will update you immediately when any new information arises. (10 March 2020, 4:20 pm)

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First Open letter from the President regarding the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) of 9 March 2020

Dear professors, staff members and students,

dear members and adherents of Chemnitz University of Technology,

The novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the infection disease caused by it („Corona virus induced disease“, COVID-19) continue to spread globally. Meanwhile, there are also confirmed cases of Coronavirus-infections in Saxony.

This evokes naturally uncertainties and anxieties. In this context, it is important to take the situation seriously but also to estimate it at the same time in an appropriate way and to react in a careful manner. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) still assesses the danger for the health of the population in Germany as moderate but also points out that this estimation may change due to new information.

In Chemnitz and Chemnitz University of Technology, no confirmed case of Coronavirus-infection emerged yet. For this reason, also the activities at Chemnitz University of Technology had not been restricted.

With regard to the implementation of events, the Health Authority of the City of Chemnitz had elaborated a checklist for assessment and decision. This checklist is provided for download on the website of the Office for Security at Work and Environment Protection (BfAU) of Chemnitz University of Technology. Internal as well as external organizers of events are asked to declare events at Chemnitz University of Technology, regardless of their size, and to send the filled checklist in due time prior to the start of the event to the Department of Facility Management and Technology (Email: vermietung@verwaltung.tu-chemnitz.de), which forwards the document to the Health Authority of the City of Chemnitz. Subsequent to respective evaluation, the Health Authority will inform the Department of Facility Management and Technology about a decision or recommendation for implementation or cancellation of the event – which then – after internal decision, if necessary and appropriate – is communicated respectively to the respective organizers of the event. Already projected lectures for the upcoming summer term are exempted from these regulations. According to the current status, they do not have to be declared by the checklist.

In case of changings regarding the current situation (risk assessment etc.) at Chemnitz resp. Chemnitz University of Technology, the university will, in coordination with the City of Chemnitz, in particular with the Health Authority of the City of Chemnitz, react without any delay as well as in an appropriate way and will inform you about that respectively.

Apart from that, I would like to ask you to continuously consult the existing information sources in order to adapt as best as possible to the current situation in your private as well as in your professional sphere and to protect yourself respectively. You get continuously actualized information regarding the Coronavirus and its way of contamination, concerning the current spreading, protection and security measures, on how to react in the case of suspicion of infection resp. disease of the Coronavirus or in the case of return from regions, in which the virus was transmitted as well as travelling indications on the websites of the Robert Koch Institute, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal Foreign Office, the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs and Societal Cohesion  (in German only), the Health Authority of the City of Chemnitz (in German only) as well as via the Federal Emergency Information and News App, abbreviated: warning app NINA (in German only).

Current information may be found as well on the website of the Office for Security at Work and Environment Protection (BfAU) of Chemnitz University of Technology established exclusively for this topic. 

In the context of protection measures, all buildings of Chemnitz University of Technology will be equipped step-by-step with disinfectant dispensers. Unfortunately, also our university is affected by the existing comprehensive shortages of availability of products of that kind. I would like to ask you cordially to pay strong attention to all protection measures recommended by the institutions mentioned above. Currently, the Robert Koch Institute recommends to pay special attention to careful hand hygiene, to comply with rules for coughing and sniffing, to keep a distance from persons affected of at minimum one to two meters as well as to renounce from shaking hands. Furthermore, all persons suffering from diseases of the respiratory tract should, according to the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute, stay at home as far as possible.

It is strongly dissuaded to travel into areas of risk. In this context, it is indicated that a business trip may only be approved under the condition that it is not opposed to current travel warnings. In this respect, please pay attention to the respective travel and safety information of the Federal Foreign Office (in German only). In case of doubt regarding the implementation of already confirmed business trips, a consideration in consultation with the supervisor resp. the responsible for the approval should be done in order to evaluate if the business trip is still absolutely necessary. In the case that it is decided in individual cases to renounce from an already confirmed business trip, travelling services which cannot be cancelled anymore may be claimed with the common calculation of business trip costs. Insofar fairs, conferences etc. are cancelled by the organizer, also costs for non-reversible travelling services in this regard may be declared within the calculation of business trip costs.

In case of symptoms similar to a flu, please stay at home and contact immediately a physician. In the case that you have travelled to an area determined as risk area for Coronavirus-diseases within the past 14 days or that you had personal contact with a person affected by the Coronavirus, please contact the Health Authority of the City of Chemnitz by telephone (phone: +49 371 488-5302, 06:00 am to 10:00 pm) without any delay, also if no disease symptoms are visible. Until then, you should stay at home and avoid unnecessary contacts with other persons. Please pay also attention to the further indications of the Health Authority in this respect  (in German only).

In cases of suspicion of infection with the Coronavirus mentioned above as well as naturally in the case of a confirmed diagnosis of a respective infection, I would like to ask to inform the University Management of Chemnitz University of Technology without any delay. Your central person of contact in this respect is Ms. Diana Schreiterer (phone: +49 371 531-35267, Email: diana.schreiterer@verwaltung.tu-chemnitz.de).

In addition, also Ms. Monique Kautz from the Office for Security at Work and Environment Protection of Chemnitz University of Technology is at your disposal (phone: +49 371 531-34254, Email: monique.kautz@verwaltung.tu-chemnitz.de).

Naturally, you will be informed about all significant changings and amendments without any delay. In case of eventually emerging further questions regarding staff regulations, a respective FAQ-area will be established on the website of the Office for Security at Work and Environment Protection (BfAU) of Chemnitz University of Technology.

I hope very much that the situation not aggravates further – and that you all stay healthy!

With kind regards

Yours Gerd Strohmeier

Mario Steinebach
12.03.2020

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