Daycare centres and schools to open first - decision up to the states

Countries decide when daycare centers and schools reopen

Already in the last few days the decision has been announced that the daycare centers and schools will be the first to reopen. The decision lies with the federal states. Saxony and some other states have already announced that they want to slowly reopen schools - if the positive development of the incidence figures continues - from next Monday (15 February). The states want to determine the concrete steps starting today (Thursday, February 11). We will keep you updated via our Corona-what-if page as well as in our posts..

For parents, this means that they can slowly hope again that they will no longer have to look after their children permanently and every day. However, it cannot be ruled out that the concrete implementation will often not fulfil the hopes and expectations - for some parents this opening will also come too soon. For the children it is often different: they often want to go back to daycare or school as soon as possible, also to finally see their friends again.

Emergency care in daycare centres and schools certainly still often remains a reality

Even if there are signs of a slow and gradual opening of daycare centres and schools, in most cases there will certainly still only be emergency care. Again, it's up to the states to determine the specific rules for who can use emergency care. We will update our Corona-what-I-can page as soon as the new regulations are finalized. (Corona-what-do-you-call-it).

Otherwise, almost all other regulations that are important to you as parents remain in effect - and will remain in effect until March 7.

Expansion of the number of children's sick days

For parents who have to take care of their children at home due to daycare and school closures, the number of so-called children's sick days was increased by 10, for single parents by 20 days. This means that in this case, the health insurance fund will cover part of the cost of lost wages. However, the reimbursement amount does not correspond to the full net wage, but is lower.

In principle, it is sufficient that the compulsory attendance is suspended or that the daycare centres are not to be visited. Have this certified by the daycare or school management and present this certificate to the health insurance company.

Home office should be increasingly made possible

Employers are required to enable their employees to work from home wherever possible. Specifically, it is stated that "wherever possible, employers must allow employees to work in a home office, provided that the activities allow it". In cases where this is not possible, as few employees as possible should be present in the office.

This arrangement is valid until mid-March.

Furthermore: Only meetings with a maximum of one other person allowed

As in the last weeks, you are only allowed to meet with a maximum of one person who does not belong to your own household. Furthermore, it is now also said that it should be a fixed person or as small a number of fixed persons as possible.

This is still a very strong restriction, which is difficult to comply with, especially for children and young people. Nevertheless, we advise you to make sure that the circle of friends is as small as possible.

Otherwise, no specific regulations for children are mentioned in the resolution of the Chancellor and the Minister Presidents. However, various Länder have laid down exemptions here; the concrete regulations vary from Land to Land, however. See the regulations in your federal state here.

here

Are the children allowed to meet their friends?

In principle, children are still only allowed to meet a boyfriend or girlfriend. Especially for smaller children this is an unnecessary hardship. As mentioned, there are exceptions to this in several federal states (see here).

here

So what happens after March 7, 2021?

The agreed regulations will initially apply until 7 March 2021, after which the Federal Chancellor and the Minister Presidents of the federal states will decide on 3 March how to proceed. A working group is to develop a concept for a secure and fair opening strategy by then.

State sovereignty

It is also important that the federal states are responsible for the concrete implementation and can adapt the regulations within the framework of the agreements. Our website Corona-was-darf-ich provides information about the further regulations in the federal states. (Corona-what-do-you-call-it).

Published on 11.02.2021