Dear partner companies, employees of our partner companies, and startups,
For those in a hurry:
- COVID-19 Measures: Stay the Course! Prevent Infections!
- All companies must develop their own COVID-19 plans—we’re here to help and serve as a discussion partner
- TFU Concept for Common Areas Presented Here
- To ensure a safe work environment: Regular PCR pool testing. 33 EUR per person; coordination and billing (at cost) handled centrally by TFU. Register at info@tfu.de!
(But seriously: it’s actually pretty simple, and almost anyone can do it themselves.)
In detail:
The pandemic situation continues to change constantly. I think we’ve all managed things pretty well together so far. “Let’s not let up now!” is the motto.
Fall is coming, and with it comes an even greater challenge: keeping COVID-19 infections as low as possible. Once cold season begins, it will be a very costly option to quarantine employees based on suspected cases of common symptoms. Fortunately, there are now solutions available for this.
>>> Please read this (long) post carefully.
Avoiding infection is the best protection!
At first, I actually thought it would be best to just get infected right away and get it over with quickly. I don’t think that anymore. Absolutely not! Even in young and/or previously healthy people, COVID-19 can cause serious harm, but above all, unwitting transmission can put at-risk groups in danger—across all age groups.
So we’d better not get infected in the first place.
How?
We must continue to take contact transmission seriously, but above all, we must prevent transmission via droplets and aerosols. It’s really not that difficult. In our experience, the necessary measures can be easily incorporated into daily life and result in relatively minor restrictions—provided we continue to keep case numbers very low. As we now know, striving for herd immunity is not a justifiable goal. So it’s important that we all continue to be cautious.
Company: Developing and Implementing Your Own Concepts:
As tenants in our buildings, each company is responsible for developing its own strategy.
We at TFU are also a company and have therefore developed a TFU-specific strategy. Our team is prepared and follows hygiene protocols with ease. We are limiting outside visitors by keeping all non-work-related activities to a minimum, as we have been doing since March 10.
>>>> Please feel free to contact us if you’d like to discuss your own strategy.
The TFU concept for all shared spaces:
To ensure the safety and well-being of all tenants in our buildings, we have implemented the following measures for common areas as part of our strategy:
- Hand sanitizer dispensers are available at all building entrances and in the conference rooms. Please be sure to use them frequently; we’ll take care of refilling them.
- Seminar rooms will be reserved—as has been the case up to now—only for our own tenants or well-known, responsible users or companies
- Disinfection schedule from the cleaning company Barz: Regular cleaning of all key surfaces, such as doorknobs (but please continue to disinfect the doorknobs yourself as well).
- Disinfection Schedule for the Seminar Rooms (Disinfectant and cleaning cloths will be provided when the keys are handed over; users are responsible for disinfecting the rooms before each meeting)
- Ventilation Plan for the GTZ Foyer
- Ventilation of the seminar rooms by the users; instructions provided when keys are handed over
We are deliberately not requiring the wearing of masks. However, we strongly ask that you maintain a minimum distance of 1.5 meters inside the buildings and recommend wearing a face covering wherever this distance cannot be maintained.
In the restaurant and cafeteria, face coverings must be worn in accordance with legal requirements.
Ensuring Continued Work Capacity: Centralized PCR Pool Testing via TFU
If companies don’t want to constantly send entire teams into quarantine just because of a few cold symptoms—which are certainly more common in the fall—they need to conduct frequent testing. We’ve consulted extensively with experts on this matter so that we can offer an efficient solution to all our partner companies.
Pool testing is the method of choice.
These are the highly accurate PCR tests, which are analyzed in so-called pools to reduce costs.
A number of swabs are tested together to determine whether any of them yield a positive result. Only in this case do the tests for a given pool need to be repeated on an individual basis. Since laboratories are currently finding COVID-19 material in only about 1% of all tests, this process of elimination is a very efficient measure.
However, as a small business, it’s not always easy to find the right providers and get their attention.
Together we are stronger: We have reached an agreement with Dr. Susa’s diagnostic laboratory in Ulm so that all TFU companies can easily take advantage of these pooled tests. We at TFU will coordinate and organize everything for you.
The total cost is EUR 33.00 per person per test; tests are grouped in sets of 5 or 10 and conducted with a confirmatory test. The cost of individual testing in the event that a positive sample is found in the pool is already included in the price.
Based on the current situation, it makes sense to use this option once a week and, for example, to test a company’s entire team at the same time every Monday.
It is highly likely that no one will be contagious for the rest of the week. Of course, this does not mean that protective measures can be scaled back, but it does make it possible to work more safely within each team, with a lower likelihood of absences.
Of course, each company can choose its own schedule and adjust it as needed.
The samples are collected in-house and can be dropped off at our facility. They are either picked up from us by the lab or delivered to the lab by us on the same day. The results are available that same evening.
If you’d like to participate, please send us a message at info@tfu.de. We will then provide information on all further steps and the correct procedure for the swabs. The tests will be billed at cost in your monthly statement.
Our entire TFU team will also get tested regularly.
We expect that very affordable “spit tests” (antigen tests) will be available soon, allowing for much more frequent and much cheaper testing, but we shouldn’t wait until then. Regular testing at a reasonable cost can already be implemented now to maintain your teams’ ability to work. Nothing is as costly as quarantining entire companies.
Please join us!
>>>>> If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time.
Warm regards
Ulrike Hudelmaier
