Corona policy until September 19

Dear University Members, Dear Colleagues,

most recently, the new Corona policy was released. As of the August 23, 2021 new regulations for our university are coming into effect.

Accessing events at the university

Both the Federal and the Higher Education Act  to combat the corona virus enforce the so called 3G rule in the university environment. The 3G rule stands for the german adjectives: geimpft, getestet, genesen – meaning: vaccinated, tested, recovered.

This applies in particular to:

• lectures and examinations,
• non-curricular or non-teaching events (For further information on types and occasions please click here)
• indoor sports activities offered by the university
• leisure and cultural facilities such as museums.

Currently explicitly exempted from the 3G rule are:

• university libraries
• workplaces of university employees

Meaning and implementation of the 3G rule:

For the above-mentioned events, facilities and sites the so-called 3G rule applies. It restricts access to events executed by the university and faciliated at the campus. Only people who are either fully vaccinated, recovered from an infection with the corona virus or present a negative Covid test will be granted access.

We are currently considering at what extend the 3G rule will be applied to exams and lectures and how best to execute this rule. It’s our goal to allow smooth daily operation here at the CAU. A separate email is currently in preparation; it will detail our plans for the coming winter semester. We are planning to send out this email in the upcoming week.

For non-curricular or non-teaching events, the respective organiser has to implement and execute access control with immediate effect. Only proofs as outlined below are going to be accepted:

• Vaccination: People who are fully vaccinated need to present either their digital or  analogue vaccination pass. Please note: Your second vaccination, or your single vaccination (e.g. Johnson & Johnson), has to be preformed at least 14 days before the respective event. Only then a immunisation is achieved.
• Recovery: People who successfully recovered from an infection with SARS-CoV-2 need to present a proof - either in writing or digitally. The proof must be based on a test conducted by a professional diagnostic laboratory using nucleic acid test (PCR, PoC-PCR or other nucleic acid amplification test methods); this test should not be younger than 28 days and older than six months.
• Tested: People, who are neither fully vaccinated nor recovered require a negative Covid test to access any of the above events and premises. The test must be certified by an authorised test centre - self tests are not accepted. Further to this, the test must not be older than 24 hours (for non-curricular events). For lectures and exams, a negative test may be up to 3 days old.

Please note: For data protection reasons, digital or analogue storage or copying of proofs is not permitted. At admission controls, only the proof should be presented. It is not needed to document that a proof was provided.

The general regulations for non-curricular events are currently in revision based on the revised Act and the adjusted step-to-step event plan by the state. They will soon be available in updated form.

Additional hygiene measures

Beyond the 3G rule, the Corona measures as per our previous communication apply:

• In particular for indoor events, data of all participants attending the event need to be collected. For lectures and non-curricular events, please consider digital recording via OLAT as your preferred option.
• In addition, it is required to wear a medical masks inside all buildings until you arrive at your workplace, while walking through indoor areas it is mandatory to maintain a distance of 1.5m to others.
• Drawing up hygiene concepts is a must; they have to be adapted to the current regulations. Please note: Shortly before an event is facilitated, it is mandatory to double check your hygiene concept and make sure that it meets all requirements of the current Corona Act and the specific regulations at the CAU.
• We are currently revising our checklists, since it´s our goal to assist you best possible when drawing up your hygiene concept. The update checklists will be available shortly.

Working on site and testing opportunities for employees

The regulations for applying tests while working from home and for on-site activities remain unchanged.

As per the current decision by the federal committee, corona rapid tests which are free of charge (so called Bürgertests) will only be offered until October 11, 2021. We therefore kindly remind you that all university employees who do not work exclusively from home are entitled to two self-tests per week. The state continues to provide these tests free of charge. If you do not have access already to self-testing kits at work, please approach to your line manager. Managers can request self-tests for their employees. However, the self-tests do not qualify to access events in the sense of the 3G rule, as no certificate can be issued for them.

With the increasing number of people at the campus, we have to be more considerate of each other. Adhering to the regulations is key. Even vaccinated and recovered individuals can spread the virus, so please take advantage of the testing opportunities. By doing so, you are protecting yourself and others - particularly those who are unable to benefit from a vaccination offer. Please also adhere to social distancing and mask up! This is to lower the risk of infection for all university members.

However, if a corona rapid test is positive or an infection is confirmed, we would like to refer you to the reporting chains and instructions. They should be applied regardless of whether you are at the campus or working from home:

• Course of conduct in the event of a positive rapid test (employees)
• Course of conduct in the event of a positive PCR test (employees)
• Course of conduct in case of a positive PCR test (students)

Survey on vaccination status and counselling services

Please find below the latest results from our ongoing survey on the status of immunization. We would like say thank you to everyone who participated to date. The results are very impressive! Some of you indicated a desire for an additional consultation opportunity. Consulting with the CAU´s medical service, we were able to implement such an offer.

If you want to arrange a consultation, please phone 0431/880-3267 or send an email to betriebsarzt@email.uni-kiel.de. The consultation is subject to confidentiality.

Partial evaluation of employees: 2037 people

• I am fully vaccinated: 93%
• I have received a vaccination appointment or have received a first vaccination: 2%
• I am waiting for a vaccination offer through CAU: 0%
• I do not need or am not interested in a vaccination offer: 3%
• I am still undecided whether I want to get vaccinated and need advice: 1%

Partial evaluation students: 7929 people

• I am fully vaccinated: 81%
• I have received a vaccination appointment or have received a primary vaccination: 6%
• I am waiting for a vaccination offer through CAU: 1%
• I do not need or am not interested in a vaccination offer: 8%
• I am still undecided whether to get vaccinated and need advice: 4%

Partial evaluation of lecturers: 156 people

• I am fully vaccinated: 85%
• I have received a vaccination appointment or have received a first vaccination: 1%
• I am waiting for a vaccination offer through CAU: 0%
• I do not require or have no interest in vaccination: 9%
• I am still undecided whether I want to get vaccinated and need advice: 6%

We are very pleased to receive such a positive response to the existing vaccination opportunities by the State and at our campus! For those who are still considering to get vaccinated: Please note that the state of Schleswig-Holstein will close its vaccination centres at the end of September. After that, vaccinations will be offered, for example at our GP or by mobile vaccination teams. We are also considering further offers at the start of the semester; this would allow for example international students and scientists – who are coming to Kiel only in September or October – to get vaccinated.

Stay healthy!
Best wishes,
Professor Markus Hundt,
Vice President