If you want to help others
Helping your community during this pandemic takes many forms, from assisting your neighbours with their shopping to simply staying home. If you want to take a more active role, here are a few resources.
Die Einkaufshelden, or The Shopping Heroes, is an organization formed to allow healthy people to help vulnerable individuals with their shopping needs. The services matches up at-risk individuals with people willing to help. Once you register, you will be able to see those in need of help in your area.
For more general tasks, including things like walking pets or sending mail, Deutschland Zusammen, or Germany Together, connects those willing to help with those in need through a simple registration process.
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Do you work in a field related to healthcare, but aren't currently employed or employed only part-time? Pflegereserve, or "Care Reserve" is looking for nursing professionals from all fields in Germany to register.
They aim to match their worker database with hospitals and care facilities experiencing shortages. Those who register are not obligated to volunteer and decide for themselves how involved they would like to be going forward. Find out more at their FAQ page.
READ ALSO: How people in Germany are showing their solidarity during the corona crisis
Here are some other useful numbers and website for each of Germany's 16 states, but remember to check with your local health authority for more specific information:
Bavaria's health ministry has set up a hotline 09131 6808-5101. It is open Monday through Friday, 8 am to 8 pm, as well as 6 to 8 pm on weekends.
People in Berlin can call the number 030 902 828 28, which is open daily from 8 am to 8 pm. They can also consult an official webpage with up-to-date information.
Those living in Brandenburg can contact the hotline 033 186 83777 from 9 am to 3 pm, Monday through Friday.
People in Baden-Württemberg can call the hotline 0711 904-39555 from 9 am to 6 pm every day, or visit a website providing up-to-date information.
For deaf people, the hotline is available as a video chat Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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The city-state of Bremen will answer general questions about coronavirus through a hotline at 0421 115. To answer health-related questions outside of normal office hours, residents can call 116 117 to reach on-call physicians. More information is available here.
In Hamburg, concerned residents can call 040 428 284 000 at a hotline available all hours of the day.
The state of Hesse has set up a hotline for questions about coronavirus at 0800 555 4666. It is open Monday to Friday from 8 am to 8 pm.
The North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Health has set up a citizens' number for questions about coronavirus at 0211 855 4774, taking calls Monday to Friday from 8 am to 6 pm.
For Rhineland-Palatinate, the state has set up a hotline for questions at 0800 575 8100. They take calls Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 4 pm and Fridays from 9 am to noon.
In Thuringia, the State Office for Consumer Protection has a hotline at 0361 573 815 099, open Monday to Friday from 9 am to noon and from 1.30 pm to 3 pm.
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