FAQ
Table of contents
Although the current Saxon Corona Protection Ordinance does not include 3G regulations, social distancing regulations or the general obligation to wear a mask, the Extended University Executive Board expects all TUD-members to protect themselves and others by taking tests, wearing masks while indoors and outdoors on campus, as well as by maintaining good hygiene and safe distances.
Life at TUD during the pandemic
The program offering vaccinations against Covid-19 directly on TU Dresden's campus has been put on hold until the beginning of October. New dates will be announced in good time.
You can find a list of other vaccination centers at https://drksachsen.de/impfaktionen/impfstellen.html.
Current recommendations of the Saxon Vaccination Commission (in German)
TU Dresden urges you to remain prudent and adhere to the 3G standard of practice. Whether employees are vaccinated, recovered, or tested will no longer be checked. The organizational units are kindly asked to erase data concerning the record of proof.
You are strongly encouraged to continue to test weekly for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 infection prior to entering the workplace.
Employees are encouraged to use test centers especially in cases of contact with infected persons.
Unit 4.5 – Safety at Work is responsible for providing masks.
Please continue to follow AHA-L rules by keeping your distance and following the hygiene and health & safety regulations.
The requirement to present proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test result for access to all courses and on-site examinations no longer apply as of April 04, 2022. However, we strongly urge all attending an on-site course or exam (including vaccinated and recovered individuals) to perform a rapid antigen test several times per week. For courses with a heightened risk situation, such as laboratory practicals, as well as for on-site examinations where the 1G rule previously applied, the test should be administered a maximum of 24h beforehand by the students themselves or at public tests centers.
Likewise, OPAL no longer requires a declaration of knowledge regarding 3G-status.
In addition to its protection regulations, TU Dresden relied on a culture of responsibility and the prudence of its students in carrying out independent 3G status checks even during the peak phases of the pandemic. It is strongly recommended that students – besides testing – keep adhering to the hygiene recommendations, such as social distancing and wearing masks.
Wearing FFP2 masks remains a simple and effective protective measure.
TUD strongly recommends wearing an FFP2 mask everywhere and at all times while on campus. This applies in particular if the minimum distance between individuals cannot be ensured. This recommodation also applies during lectures, when seated, as well as during on-site examinations (at least with a medical mask).
Information: Surgical masks primarily protect those around you. FFP2 masks (appropriate mask types according to § 4 paragraph 2 Corona-ArbSchV and its annexes) have the added advantage of protecting you yourself to a much greater extent, provided that they are worn correctly. It is strongly recommended that you wear an FFP2 mask, as stated by the Federal Government: https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/suche/regelung-zu-masken-1842704.
You may either carry out a rapid antigen test yourself (self-test) or these can be conducted by trained personnel. Rapid tests – whether undertaken by yourself or by trained personnel – facilitate an early interruption of potential chains of infection. However, please be responsible at all times and observe the social distancing and hygiene regulations. Even people who tested negative or have no symptoms can still infect others.
Video: How to take Covid self-tests (in German)
Test centers:
Test centers are available in Dresden, in Zittau/Goerlitz and Freital/Saechsische Schweiz.
The test center at Reichenbachstrasse was closed on April 29.
In order to ensure swift contact tracing, it is recommended to use the Corona-Warn-App and the QR codes that are displayed at the doors around campus.
- You can create a QR code for event check-ins here: https://www.coronawarn.app/en/eventregistration/
- For those who do not have the Corona-Warn app, there is a document for contact tracing.
Info: How does the Corona-Warn-App use my data and what happens with it?
Teaching:
Full occupancy in rooms and lecture halls is possible as of May 16.
Employees:
If it is not possible to keep the minimum distance in office buildings, we highly recommend wearing a mask or using other protection (such as plexiglass screens).
If you have cold symptoms, please do not come to your workplace, but work remotely wherever possible.
Get tested.
Please refer to the current procedures for infection cases. If necessary, a sick note should be submitted.
The opportunity for employees to be granted sick leave from their doctors via phone is again available as of August 04, 2022, until November 30, 2022.
To offer TUD members the best possible protection in the case of an infection, the university’s Occupational Health Services has published two documents outlining the responsibilities and information chains within TUD for employees as well as for students and lecturers. These procedures apply when someone has contact with infected individuals.
The short version of the concept of measures regulates compliance with the Saxon Corona Protection Ordinance at TUD. This document is useful to organizational units and teaching staff for gaining an overview of the requirements and recommendations for hygiene protection.
Events
All events on campus - whether teaching, exams, meetings, fairs, congresses, cultural or other - can take place without a hygiene concept from May 16.
Nevertheless we strongly recommended:
- wearing an FFP2-mask in public spaces and when a distance of 1.5 meters cannot be ensured
- complying with social distancing
- restricting contact
- complying with hygiene recommendations
Comitee Meetings and Business Meetings
To reduce the number of direct contacts, we ask that you continue to make use of virtual meetings.
In the past few months, many relevant and often time-saving virtual methods have become popular and employees have become familiar with these digital tools. These methods should continue to be used in the future. The utmost priority is still to reduce face-to-face contact.
Current operations
Remote working can no longer take precedence at TU Dresden. However, the University Executive Board recommends taking advantage of working remotely, as far as the activities are suitable for regular remote working.
The service agreement on mobile work from June 22, 2021, and the service agreement on flexible working hours from July 17, 2020, serve as the basis.
Coordination with supervisors and colleagues is requested. Agreements, once completed, are to be submitted to the Directorate Personnel – .
Permission to work remotely can and should be granted generously in the current climate, including to avoid the use of personal transportation and to reduce person-to-person contacts or duplication of office staffing. If double occupancy of offices cannot be ruled out, protective measures must be taken, such as setting up plexiglass shields, ensuring sufficient distance, ventilation, etc.
Legitimate interests of employees (e.g. childcare needs when childcare facilities are closed) shall be given due consideration when granting permission for occasional, i.e. short-term, remote work.
Remote work is to be authorized especially for employees who belong to the risk groups for a severe course of illness.
Up-to-date information from the ZIH regarding the use of IT services can be found here: https://tu-dresden.de/zih/dienste/aktuelles
An overview of the permitted tools for video conferences including the terms of use can be found here: https://tu-dresden.de/zih/dienste/videokonferenz
Is it still the case that approved leave must be taken?
As a rule, leave that has already been approved (even in the case of travel restrictions) remains unchanged. Supervisors and staff may reach other agreements depending on the workload and provided work-related factors allow (e.g. no increased workload / staff shortage due to approved vacations of other team members in the same period).
Can remaining leave be carried over to the following year?
The following provisions apply when carrying leave over to the following year:
A maximum of 10 vacation days (based on a five-day working week) may be carried over to the following year without naming a particular reason. This provision applies for the last time for the carryover of vacation into 2022.
Furthermore, leave may only be carried over if urgent professional or personal reasons preclude the granting of leave. Restrictions due to the pandemic, including cancellations of planned or already booked trips, do not constitute a reason for carrying over vacation days in the aforementioned sense.
The unused vacation days must be taken in full by September 30, 2022. Otherwise they will be forfeited. Exceptions to this rule include extended illness, maternity or parental leave and accrued leave for civil servants.
If you have tested positive for Covid-19 or must go into mandatory quarantine at home in accordance with the regulations of the Free State of Saxony, please note the current procedures for infection cases at TU Dresden. The following applies for TU Dresden employees during the quarantine period:
You are in quarantine but only have very light symptoms or none at all:
- You should work from home if possible. Please discuss this with your supervisor.
- If you are unable to work from home (for example, due to technical reasons or childcare responsibilities during working hours), you may be excused from work. You will receive your salary as normal during this period of excused absence, but for no longer than a period of six weeks. This regulation was agreed on in no. 1 and 2 of the May 21, 2021, version of the “information on coronavirus from the Free State of Saxony as an employer for state administration employees.”
- Employees are not entitled to continued remuneration if they must quarantine following an avoidable journey, even though they knew prior to leaving that they would be obliged to quarantine upon their return, covering a period in excess of the approved leave of absence. A journey is deemed avoidable if, at the time of departure, there were no compelling or urgent reasons for the journey. A journey is deemed unavoidable when it is the result of extraordinary circumstances, such as the birth of one’s child or the death of a close relative. In contrast, private celebrations or vacations do not constitute unavoidable journeys.
You have Covid-19 and are unable to work:
- In this case, the regular legal and collective bargaining provisions on continued remuneration in the case of illness apply. Incapacity to work must be confirmed by a doctor’s note by the fourth working day at the latest, or earlier if requested by the department.
Your child is in quarantine and you need to care for them at home:
- You may work from home to the extent that this is possible. Please discuss this with your supervisor.
- If it is not possible to work from home and care for your child simultaneously, please note the information on child sick days: employee rights.
Employees who have statutory health insurance for themselves and their child(ren) are entitled to time off from work if they have to care for their child themselves due to illness or the loss of care options as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. They can claim payment for child sick days from the health insurance fund to the amount of (usually) 90 percent of their net pay.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, German legislation has decided to increase the entitlement to child sick days (paid exemption from work with payment of child sick days by the health insurance funds) for 2022. Accordingly, in the current year, each parent will be granted 30 days per child (maximum 65 days in the case of several children). Single parents will be granted 60 days per child (maximum 130 days in the case of several children). This applies to all children under the age of twelve or if the child requires assistance due to a disability.
If your child is ill, please notify your supervisor immediately. As usual, the child sick leave certificate must be enclosed as proof.
Furthermore, the child sick days may also be used to cover coronavirus-related childcare needs (§ 45 para. 2a SGB V) up until September 23, 2022. The entitlement applies if childcare at home becomes necessary because the childcare facility (school, after-school care center, daycare center) or the facility for the care of persons with disabilities is closed, the class/group or individual children are required to stay home due to the pandemic, compulsory attendance in class is suspended, or access to the above-mentioned childcare is restricted (e.g. alternating at-home and on-site learning days). This entitlement also applies for employees who can technically work from home, but are unable to do so in practice due to childcare at home.
If you would like to use child sick days to care for your (healthy) children at home, please indicate the need for time off to your supervisor using the form provided. The form must include the signature of your supervisor and be forwarded to Directorate Personnel, Unit 2.2 (). Unless a general closure of all childcare facilities in the respective federal state has been enacted, please attach confirmation from the childcare facility (see sample form)
Please note that from the employer's point of view, the exemption from work is unpaid, and TU Dresden will arrange for a corresponding notification of the payroll office. It lies within your own responsibility to claim reimbursement for loss of earnings from your health insurance provider. The health insurance providers have made forms to be used for this purpose available on their websites for download (each health insurance provider has its own form).
Pursuant to § 29, para. 1, letter e of the TV-L, salaried employees who have private health insurance for themselves or their child(ren) are entitled to up to four days of paid exemption from work per calendar year due to the illness of a child under the age of 12, and to one additional day due to the illness of a relative living in the same household. In addition, unpaid exemption from work in accordance with § 29 para. 3 sentence 2 of the TV-L for a period of up to two working weeks (with the exemption being credited to the period of employment) or, in addition, unpaid leave in accordance with § 28 TV-L (without being credited to the period of employment) may be requested from Directorate Personnel. Pursuant to § 45 para. 5 SGB V, the employer is also obliged to exempt privately insured persons from work (unpaid) at least up to the extent of the above-mentioned child sick days. The extent to which private health insurance will cover the resulting loss of earnings or has extended this possibility due to the coronavirus pandemic must be clarified by the employees themselves.
Civil servants are entitled to paid special leave of 10 working days (single parents 20 working days) per calendar year or, in case of several children, up to 25 working days (single parents up to 50 working days) if their child is sick, pursuant to § 12 para. 2 of the Saxon Leave, Maternity Protection and Parental Leave Regulation. In addition, a special regulation was established by decree of the State Ministry of the Interior (as of May 21, 2021). According to this regulation, special leave with continued pay may be granted for up to 30 additional working days (for single parents up to 60 additional working days) upon request for necessary child care when community facilities are closed or not allowed to be entered. This also applies if children cannot attend daycare or school as a preventive measure due to cold symptoms following a decision by the childcare facility.
Such requests must be signed by your supervisor and submitted in writing on paper or by email to the Directorate Personnel (). Please note the further requirements stipulated in the SMI decree. Unless there is a general closure of all childcare facilities in the federal state, please attach a confirmation from the childcare facility or your doctor that daycare/school attendance is not possible.
General information:
Employees are entitled to up to 10 days off work to organize care for close relatives in need of care (to see which family members this applies to, please refer to § 7 para. 3 PflZG or § 66 para. 2 sentence 1 SächsBG) in an acute care situation or to ensure nursing services during this time.
- For employees, the time off is granted without pay; an application for care assistance allowance can be submitted to the care insurance provider of the person in need of care.
- Civil servants are granted a leave of absence pursuant to § 71 SächsBG with continued payment of their salaries. The need for care must be proven by a doctor’s note.
Info: Who has to apply for what? Plus sample medical certificate
Corona-related care for family members:
- For employees, new special provisions mean that the entitlement to time off work and care assistance allowance has been increased to up to 20 days for a limited period until June 30, 2022, if the acute care situation arises due to the Covid-19 pandemic (§ 9 para. 1 PflZG / § 150 para. 5d and 6 SGB XI / Article 8 No. 2 and Article 17 of the Gesetz zur Änderung des Infektionsschutzgesetzes und weiterer Gesetze of November 22, 2021). Care support allowance is not credited against the regular entitlement of 10 days for this time period. Covid-related care support allowance is an additional benefit (§ 150b SGB XI / Article 8 No. 3 of the above-mentioned law from November 22, 2021).
No comparable provision has been made to date for civil servants. - After the (up to) 20 work days (for employees) or 10 work days (for civil servants), supervisors should preferentially offer this group the option to work remotely. If working remotely is not possible, the possibilities of flexible working hours should be considered (using up accumulated overtime hours, moving the work to a later date) or remaining leave or leave be taken.
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Concerning switching between working remotely and on-site you can find information on which data protection and security measures should be taken into consideration on the following websites: When working remotely: Upon returning to the office: |
Teaching and courses
You can find the latest information on the 2022 summer semester in the circular mail from April 1, 2022.
You can find all further information on studying during the pandemic on the ServiceCenterStudies (SCS) info page:
https://tu-dresden.de/studium/im-studium/coronavirus/faq
ttps://tu-dresden.de/studium/im-studium/coronavirus/pruefungen
For staff and students of the Faculty of Medicine on the University Hospital Dresden campus, the regulations from the Crisis Management Team of the University Hospital take precedence.
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All on-site teaching during the 2022 summer semester should adhere to TUD’s hygiene rules. Here, too, we emphasize the importance of wearing face masks to prevent infection. Hybrid teaching formats are possible, subject to the lecturer's discretion. The Center for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching (ZiLL) offers consultation (incl. via TUD's Matrix Messenger), guidance, and training sessions to assist with the content and technical design of teaching and testing formats. In case of infection, it is no longer necessary to transfer all on-site courses attended by the affected person to the virtual space for 7 days, but only those courses/groups with a particular risk situation as determined by the faculties. In case of a confirmed infection, it is at the lecturer's discretion to temporarily move other courses online either in whole or in part. |
All exams can take place on site.
General guidelines for digital examinations have also been created; the examiners decide on the mode of execution (on-site or online) in consultation with the students and the examination committees.
Information on the general regulations for digital examinations has been compiled in one document. This information is currently available in German only.
The Senate regulations regarding the rejection of exam results expired at the end of the 2021 summer semester.
Different rules apply to the Faculty of Medicine due to the fact that, in addition to its research and teaching, it must also ensure patient care. For this reason, the Free State of Saxony has introduced separate legal regulations for the medical faculties in Dresden and Leipzig. Accordingly, they have their own budget and they are also entitled to a separate administration in order to establish regulations for the protection of patients. This autonomy is the basis for their own Covid protection measures.
Students who switch between on-site and online classes can use the dining halls to attend their online classes.
Please use headphones when attending online classes. It is recommended to wear a mask in the canteens. Masks can be removed when seated.
The following canteens (WiFi available) have extended their usual opening hours of 11:30 am to 1:30 pm to provide space for online classes in the 2022 summer semester:
- Mensa Zeltschlösschen: Mon. – Fri., 8:30 am – 3:30 pm
- Alte Mensa: Mon. – Fri., 8:00 am – 4:30 p.m
Individual faculties also have rooms available. Please take note of the corresponding notices.
Students with children have the option of using TUD's flexible childcare on an hourly basis (e.g. for the time they are taking exams). The childcare is provided in cooperation with the Wirbelwind Agency.
For more information and registration, please visit https://tu-dresden.de/flexible-kinderbetreuung
Health and wellbeing
For information on possible symptoms, please refer to: https://www.zusammengegencorona.de/en/fever-coughing-feeling-unwell-suspicion-of-covid-19/
Anyone displaying symptoms typically associated with Covid-19 must stay at home and consult a doctor. For a consultation at any time, please call the patient service hotline at 116 117.
We recommend the following as a preventative measure and to make it easier to follow the chain of infection:
- Make a note of the places you have visited and who you came into contact with. Keep hold of this list for at least 14 days.
- If you have Covid-19 or think you might have Covid-19, please use the Robert Koch Institute's diary for contact persons to Covid-19 cases. Please also follow the TUD procedure that applies to you (see ‘Life at TUD during the Covid-19 Pandemic’ FAQs).
You can find an overview of all Covid-related advisory services here.
For employees
If you are feeling overwhelmed in your work or private life, the Occupational Health Services’ psychologists offer counseling. For more detailed information, please refer to https://tu-dresden.de/dez/psychologische-beratung. To book an appointment, please send an email to .
For students
You can send an email to to book an in-person or telephone consultation. Please briefly describe your request in the email. You can find more information on the Studentenwerk’s website: https://www.studentenwerk-dresden.de/soziales/psychosoziale-beratung.html
Are you finding working from home difficult? TUD occupational and organizational psychologists offer their advice: https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/gesundheitsmanagement/information-regarding-covid-19-coronavirus-sars-cov-2/tipps-fuer-das-arbeiten-von-zu-hause
Federal Government, Free State of Saxony and State Capital of Dresden
Find the latest information from the federal government (in German) here: https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/themen/coronavirus
The latest information from the Federal Foreign Office: Travel and safety advice varies from country to country.
Please refer to the current regulations on traveling to Saxony too.
Information and regulations in different languages
Homepage:
https://www.coronavirus.sachsen.de
All official announcements, numbered consecutively
https://www.coronavirus.sachsen.de/amtliche-bekanntmachungen.html
Dresden’s city administration has a dashboard that displays the current incidence value and number of cases.
Visit their website for more information on what to do if you need to quarantine, who to contact if you think you might have Covid-19, where to get advice as well as for event regulations and information for travelers.
Traveling and commuting
Business trips are possible, but their necessity should be critically questioned. When booking, attention should be paid to generous cancellation terms.
Detailed information is available on the Unit 2.4’ website.
Commuters should prioritize working or teaching from home. It’s recommended to avoid weekend commuting and unnecessary traveling.
Virtual events can be claimed using this application for reimbursement of expenses for participation in a virtual event with approval from your supervisor. It must then be submitted to Directorate 1, Unit 1.1 or Unit 1.3 if participation is to be paid for by TU Dresden or third-party funding, respectively.