These are pictures that you actually never wanted to see again after last winter: relatives stand in front of a nursing home and try to shout something to their parents or grandparents because they are not allowed to leave their rooms on the first floor.

Scenes like this can now be observed again in front of the senior citizens' residence Haus am Werbellinsee in the community of Schorfheide in Brandenburg.

There was a massive corona outbreak there, the local health department recently reported 59 infected people: 44 residents and 15 employees.

Ten women and one man have died from the virus.

Sebastian Eder

Editor in the Society department at FAZ.NET.

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A woman complained to the television station rbb about the death of her father. You have just come from the undertaker. "For me the situation is intolerable, terrible, bad," she said. Her mother, who also lives in the home, is also sick with Covid-19. The announcement that a fine procedure was initiated against the head of the facility because he is said to have re-entered the home after a positive test result caused outrage. The rbb also reported that an unvaccinated caregiver may have brought the virus into the nursing home.

The cause of the corona outbreak is still unclear, said Robert Bachmann, the spokesman for the Barnim district, on Tuesday.

The nursing home was visited on Sunday together with the health department, and there were no complaints.

The outbreak became known on October 15, when ten residents and two employees tested positive.

After comprehensive PCR tests, the numbers have been corrected upwards, said Bachmann.

The next test results are expected for Thursday.

Most of those who died from the virus were more than 80 years old and all of them had previous illnesses.

Jens Spahn wants stricter test rules

Discussions aroused another number, which the district reported: According to this, the residents were vaccinated "quite well", but the vaccination rate of the employees in the facility is only around 50 percent. The district administrator of the Barnim district, Daniel Kurth (SPD), said: "I am convinced that it should be a question of professional ethics for certain professional groups to protect themselves and their environment with all available means from a possible infection with the coronavirus to protect. ”Experience shows, however, that the freedom of choice that has prevailed up to now on the subject of vaccination does not have the hoped-for effect. “The legislator is now asked to find a nationwide solution. If not in the form of a compulsory vaccination for the relevant professional groups, then at least with the obligation to daily tests. "

After all, the state government reacted quickly: Instead of twice a week, unvaccinated nurses will have to be tested daily. This compulsory test should apply from a seven-day incidence of 100 to all nurses in facilities who cannot demonstrate vaccination or recovery.

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) also wants to enforce stricter test rules for care facilities at the health ministers' conference at the end of the week: "Regardless of the vaccination status", the staff should be tested at least twice a week, according to a draft resolution that was published on Tuesday. Visitors to care facilities would therefore also have to show a negative test result regardless of their vaccination status. The federal states can also introduce a 2-G rule for visitors to care facilities. Spahn, on the other hand, continues to reject mandatory vaccination for nurses.

The German Ethics Council no longer understands this. Ethics Council member Wolfram Henn told the FAZ on Tuesday: “Anyone who makes the free decision to take up a profession in which they take responsibility for vulnerable people must be measured by different standards than others. That is why we need a job-specific mandatory vaccination for medical and nursing staff. ”With the formula“ vaccinated or fired ”one makes it too easy for oneself. “Rather, the next step must be that employers can relocate unvaccinated persons in such a way that they no longer have contact with vulnerable groups.” As a “last resort”, staff should not be employed.

Henn called on people to think about outpatient care as well: "My mother is 92 years old, has been vaccinated three times, but that is not absolute protection." An outpatient nurse comes home to her. "Such people can become super spreaders." Therefore, Henn demanded a right to information: "My mother must know whether this nurse who comes to her is vaccinated or not."

With regard to the nursing home in Schorfheide, it is still unclear why the residents there apparently have not yet received any booster vaccinations. Most people over 80 in Germany were given a second vaccination more than six months ago, after this period a booster vaccination is recommended. According to the Ministry of Health in Brandenburg, the home had appointments for this, but these had been postponed due to the outbreak. The Düsseldorf-based company Alloheim, which operates more than 230 inpatient facilities with 22,000 beds, announced that it would generally not provide any information on the health data of residents and employees. "We inform our employees and residents regularly and support them with vaccination appointments," it said. The vaccination remains an individual decision,"Because there is no binding requirement of the legislature with regard to a vaccination obligation".