How a wuhan woman takes on china's government

adminonJune 11, 2022Leave a Comment

How a wuhan woman takes on china's government

When asked how the Chinese author Fang Fang just leaves, responds to her translator Michael Kahn-Ackermann. He himself lives in China and has telephone contact with her and writes with her via the Internet. "It's Fang Fang, as someone who has to deal with slander, death threats, obscene remarks, untrue rumors day after day," he replied to our editorial staff. Despite the situation, Fang Fang said he was unbroken. But she also doesn't want to comment publicly at the moment out of an abundance of caution.

Writer Fang Fang has written the book of the hour. "Wuhan Diary: Diary from a Locked Down City.", this are 60 diary entries that vividly describe how life in the because of the Coronavirus sealed off city was. No one was allowed to go there or leave, there was no way to report from there. The virus broke out in Wuhan for the first time, much is still uncertain about its origins and trajectory. Fang Fang's book, now being published around the world, is an important look from the inside that helps Corona Pandemic and to better understand its political and private consequences.

According to dpa-AFX, the carmaker Daimler pays employees a bonus if they are rarely sick, according to a new company agreement. Daimler and the works council agreed on an attendance bonus of a maximum of 200 euros gross per year. The full bonus is paid to employees who have not been unable to work for a single day within a year. Accordingly, it is distributed over a maximum of 50 euros per quarter. In the industry, this action is uncharted territory.

The bonus is part of a larger employee health agreement. In addition, there is a voluntary and free health check for all employees, which is intended, for example, to help with the early detection of health risks.

Daimler's works council head Michael Brecht said, "In weighing the interests, we ultimately decided to accept the attendance bonus for a limited period for the introduction of the health check. We managed to get it automatically phased out after two years, but the health check remains." He added: "We also ame that the sums involved will not cause anyone to drag themselves into the store ill."

Institute for Further Training of Works Councils sees the measure positively. In an analysis, the experts write:

Daimler tested the new "attendance bonus" for two years in a large-scale pilot project. Now it's getting serious: Every employee who does not miss work due to illness for a year will receive an extra bonus of 200 euros on top of his or her salary. Just now with the works council, a new company agreement closed.

The waves were already running high in the run-up to the event. A premium for not being sick? What is the purpose? What incentives are being set? And what excesses could this lead to?? Do employees come to work sick to avoid losing their entitlement? At least one thing is obvious: The bonus is quartered at 50 euros per quarter, which alone is probably far too low to get really sick people out of bed. But is it also low enough to at least not have to go to the office or into production with a huff after all? Here then the healthy colleagues are infected, who thank. But that's another matter.

The health premium is popular with both workforces and Controversial among health experts. This affects not only Daimler, but all companies that are active here. The automaker did well to test the matter for years. In any case, the result did not lead to the idea of abolishing it again.

The Stuttgarter Nachrichten quote the Works council chairman Michael Brecht. He presents the works council's approval as part of a balancing of interests. In the future, employees will receive a comprehensive, free health check for an unlimited period, while the attendance bonus will be phased out in two years' time. True conviction is expressed differently.

Health promotion and prevention – these are good and correct ways in the Occupational health management. The regulation at Daimler itself is actually much more differentiated than it was presented here. There are also provisions for hardship cases, for example.

The Stuttgart carmaker traditionally pays comparatively high salaries. 50 euros more per quarter won't have much effect as an incentive for most people. That's why it's clear: It's not so much about the money and the premium, but about something else: The signal effect. "Stay healthy" says the company "and we'll give you something for it – more or less symbolically". In addition, there are extremely real prevention programs, high-quality medical checks and health courses. Not bad.

Employee health seems to be high on Daimler's agenda – especially because of this controversial attendance bonus. Whether it is the pinnacle of knowledge remains to be seen. As part of a larger package, they will be able to cope.

A bus now travels through the disaster area in the flooded Ahr Valley. Charged: Corona vaccine. Without registering for an appointment, residents of the region can be vaccinated. On Tuesday, a bus parks at the train station in Ahrweiler, a town in Rhineland-Palatinate that was hit particularly hard by the floods.

Flood washed out houses, destroyed roads and bridges. However, the flood has also Health care in the region paralyzed from one day to the next. Doctor's offices are not accessible, partly even destroyed by the water. A hospital had to close in the Ahrweiler region. In a pandemic, this is fatal – a just established infrastructure of testing stations and vaccination centers lies fallow.

In addition: thousands of helpers have traveled to the region: Firefighters, police units, rescue workers from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief and the German Red Cross. Whoever pulls people out of the mud cannot provide a Minimum distance comply. Those who help desperate homeowners empty their basements aren't the first to pay attention to the minimum distance.

Lauterbach warns: mass shelters are a danger

All this is known to the relief organizations and the rulers in state and local government. And one worry is growing: will the flood wave be followed by the Infection wave? Because people are helping side by side, many affected people, but also volunteers are staying overnight in hotels and in some cases in collective accommodations. Experience in the pandemic has shown that it is precisely these places that can lead to increased numbers of infections.

Figures about the New infections in the area of the flood, the Ministry of Rhineland-Palatinate has not yet been able to provide any information when asked about it. For a serious statement, the time after the Disaster, which was only a few days ago, too scarce anyway.

And yet the state government is aware of the seriousness of the situation. State Secretary Denis Alt urgently called on all as yet unvaccinated adults in the affected area to protect themselves against the Coronavirus to be vaccinated.

In the Disaster relief are "necessarily working hand in hand," "often without being able to comprehensively comply with Corona protections," Alt said. "With vaccinations and rapid tests, we want to make an unbureaucratic offer of protection to those affected and the numerous helpers, so that the pandemic in the disaster area can be kept under control."

A special vaccination campaign like the one in Rhineland-Palatinate is not currently planned in North Rhine-Westphalia, said a spokesman for the state government there, referring to the responsibility of the local authorities. However, the NRW Ministry of Health is making additional vaccinations available to the areas affected by the flood Vaccination quotas available.

Disaster area can become a super-spreader event

"People in the disaster areas certainly have other worries than the coronavirus at the moment, I understand that. But if people are now infecting each other, especially in the emergency shelters, that puts an additional strain on the strained structures on the ground," said NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU).

"Therefore, we give as much vaccine as is needed to these regions." Health experts also see the danger that the disaster area will become the Superspreader event becomes. "Mass shelters are a danger for people, because there is a high risk of corona infection," SPD politician Karl Lauterbach tells our editorial team.

Such cramped accommodations are therefore absolutely to avoid. " Flood victims in disaster areas must instead be housed in hotels and individual shelters." Often this is already happening.

In just a few hours, more than 100 people will be vaccinated

In addition to mobile vaccination teams, Lauterbach is calling for everyone helping with the cleanup to be equipped with high-quality FFP2 protective masks. Recently, the infection figures were very low, for example, in the district of Ahrweiler, which was badly affected by the flooding.

Even almost a week after the floods, the Incidence With just over five new infections per week and 100.000 inhabitants – a value significantly below the average in Germany. In Rhineland-Palatinate, 46.4 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated by Monday.

At the Corona vaccination bus at the Ahrweiler train station, authorities say vaccinations against the virus are not the only option. Residents can also get test let. After a few hours, the state government announced, more than 100 people in Ahrweiler had already been vaccinated. As long as demand continues, the bus will stay on site.

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