COVID-19 & Infection Protection

Summary

  • Be excellent to each other!
  • There are no mandatory measures.
  • Please don't attend the event while being Covid-positive or having any other infectious disease.
  • We ask everyone to voluntarily test themselves, preferably before arriving at the location each day.
  • There is a limited amount of tests and masks available free of charge, mainly aimed at volunteers.
  • You should bring your own tests and masks, find information on where you can get them below.
  • We encourage you to wear a mask especially in crowded situations.

Situation

As with each year, there are various contagious respiratory diseases going around, including COVID-19. These will not go away anytime soon, and they can lead to severe symptoms for some people.

There are no mandatory measures this year.

We expect a normal amount of COVID-19, common cold and flu among Congress attendees, with the winter season and people flying from all over the globe of course affecting the incidence. We will be doing our best to protect attendees within the means available to us, but we recommend each attendee to take their own precautions based on their own individual circumstances.

Even if you believe you don't need precautions, you can choose to help protect the greater community by doing so:

We encourage you to test yourself each day, preferably at your accommodation before arriving at the CCH. That way you can help protect others, and make Congress a safer place for everyone. There will be no self-test desk at the venue this year.

While masking is not mandatory, we encourage you to wear a mask at your own discretion to help protect the greater community. We also ask that you respect the decision of others to wear or not to wear a mask. You should know that some visitors with hearing disabilities may ask you to remove your mask, so they can read your lips.

There will be masks and self-test kits (COVID-19 + Influenza A/B) free of charge available at 38C3. Our main focus this year is supplying volunteers (Angels), but a limited number will be available to the general public. Locations will be publicised through various means, potentially including this info page, c3nav and signage on site. This page will be updated when details have been determined. As a rule of thumb, if you're an Angel, Heaven will be the place to ask.

Tips on buying your own masks and tests

If you need to acquire masks and tests whilst in Hamburg, you can do so at any drug store (Drogeriemarkt) or pharmacy (Apotheke). There are several options within 1.5 km of CCH, and there's likely to be some around where you're staying as well. These can be obtained for cheap, often less than 1 euro per mask, and tests for 1–2 euros. Of course, there are many online options as well.

We recommend buying good FFP2 (or FFP3) masks that fit well. Best fit is if there's no air leaking around the nose, chin or cheeks as you exhale. If you have facial hair, you may also want to check that it doesn't interfere with the fit. We recommend buying a few extra masks, in case you need to replace one (if it gets dirty, gets lost, etc).

For tests, we have no specific recommendations. If you want to be extra safe, there are currently various tests commonly available that test not only for COVID-19 but for various diseases (SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A/B, sometimes also RSV).

If you feel like no mask fits you well, you can look at more premium options that you can acquire online (by work safety equipment manufacturers, etc), which often have better comfort and fit.

For the international congressgoers: The generic word for the self-tests in German is "Schnelltest" and COVID-19 is referred to colloquially as "Corona", this may help with shopping around and asking staff. Generally, drug stores are open for longer hours than pharmacies. Almost all stores are closed on Sundays and public holidays, but the ones in train stations (Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, Hamburg-Altona) are open on Sundays and often also on holidays, though they may be rather crowded.

In case of positive tests or symptoms

If there's a risk of you transmitting an infection to other attendees (e.g. after being tested Covid-positive), we ask you to not attend the event.

If you feel unwell during the event, please contact the CERT.

If you have a medical emergency, the medical emergency number in Germany is 112. Calling 112 on the DECT network will instead connect you to CERT.