Spring 2020: Like other facilities, the Federal Asylum Centre (FAC) in Kreuzlingen was also required to set up a COVID-19 quarantine unit. “We started thinking early on which rooms we could use. As we particularly needed small rooms that could be made secure and few staff were on site, it became clear quite quickly that we would use our offices,” Martin Liechti remembers. “We also knew that we would need more staff, more protective equipment and more beds. With the support of other federal services, supplies began arriving quickly and the equipment was installed within a few days. It was remarkable that everything went so smoothly and fast,” Till Zeretzke adds.
Good communication
One of the greatest challenges was communication. “From one day to the next we had to explain to the residents, in a multitude of languages, how many people were allowed to sit at a table, what hygiene rules applied, how to maintain social distancing in the dormitories, etc.” Till Zeretzke and his team were confronted with new challenges on a daily basis. The FAC in Kreuzlingen is located within walking distance of the railway station: “For the most part, everyone was cooperative and complied with the new rules. I think everyone had – and still has – a huge respect for the virus,” Zeretzke says, giving credit to the asylum seekers.
Arrival of the resettlement groups
A further task was to resettle two groups of particularly vulnerable refugees – Syrians from Jordan and Sudanese from Egypt. Till Zeretzke describes the situation at the time: “In particular the arrival of the first group in spring 2020 was a challenge. We had to put 30 people into quarantine for ten days because they had arrived from a country with a high number of coronavirus infections, and ensure they were kept separate from the other residents. This caused a feeling of uncertainty at the centre for a while. Fortunately, no one came down with COVID.
The situation eases
Despite the challenges, Martin Liechti can see the last twelve months in a positive light: “We all worked together with the same objective in mind – this attitude more than paid off,” he says.