Why is the university collecting contact information in the winter semester?
Starting this semester, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar will again be offering attendance courses, and we wish to make these courses as safe as possible for all participants. The most important rules for on-campus life will be summarised here. However, these measures alone will not help contain the pandemic and keep it under control.
One important tool for containing the pandemic is contact tracing for infected individuals. This process involves tracing an infected individual's personal contacts in order to identify potential further spread of the infection and to be able to isolate anyone who may be affected. The City of Weimar relies heavily on this strategy (also known as »test, trace and isolate«) and has once again increased their staff. The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar has agreed to support the city’s health department as much as they can.
In order to achieve seamless contact tracing for the numerous courses offered by the university, contact information for all participants should be recorded voluntary at the beginning of each seminar, project meeting or course, ideally with participants’ exact seating locations. In this way, the Weimar health authorities can request that only those who were in the immediate vicinity of the infected individual self-quarantine and all others can be classified as second-degree contact persons. Second-degree contact persons are not required to self-quarantine.
For this reason, contact information for participants of each course will be handwritten and stored in a sealed envelope in the Deans’ offices on a voluntary basis. A digital solution is currently being prepared to replace the filing of paper documents. Data protection is a top priority: The data collected will be processed exclusively by persons commissioned by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and will not be passed on to third parties. The health authorities will be notified in accordance with applicable pandemic regulations.
In the event of an infection, or more specifically a positive corona test, anyone affected is strongly advised to self-quarantine. In cases of infection, the university must be identified as quickly as possible via e-mail to gesundheit[at]uni-weimar.de or via the contact form available at www.uni-weimar.de/coronavirus/meldeformular. This is the only way to ensure that contacts can be quickly traced and individuals who may have been infected and may not be experiencing symptoms can be notified.
Practising cautious contact with each other will help prevent the spread of the virus in Weimar. If you are experiencing symptoms such as coughing, a loss of smell and/or taste, fever or a runny nose, consult a doctor and avoid contact with others until you have received a negative test result.
The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar thanks all university members for their solidarity--through considerate cooperation, we can make this semester creative and successful, despite the pandemic!