Almost 2,000 FFP protection class 2 masks and other protective equipment from the GFZ inventory now support the safety of health care workers in Berlin and Potsdam.

The respirators were procured by the GFZ in 2006 as a reaction to the bird flu. But in times when so many scientists work from home to slow down the spread of the corona virus and contact on campus is minimal, masks are not needed on site to protect staff.

The masks were now, together with other material, handed over to medical facilities to support the medical work. Besides the protective masks, the researchers collected material from their laboratories, including protective goggles, disinfection material, protective suits, disposable gloves, and more breathing masks.

One half of the material was given to the KfH Kuratorium für Dialyse und Nierentransplantation e.V. in Berlin for the protection of nursing staff and medical personnel. The second part was made available to the State of Brandenburg. Last Tuesday, Brandenburg's Minister of Science and Culture, Manja Schüle, handed over the protective equipment of numerous Brandenburg universities and non-university research institutions to the Mayor of Potsdam, Mike Schubert. 

In science, such equipment is not only used in case of a crisis, but above all in daily laboratory work, which is minimized anyway in times of the corona pandemia. So the masks, disinfectants or gloves can now be used first and foremost where the need is greatest. (ak)