OPEN RESEARCH BEHIND CLOSED DOORS in contact with staff and vice versa. However, some persons concerned reported that they did not get (sufficient) face masks and that the staff was not wearing them in their shared offices. According to them, physical distancing was not always practised due to lack of enforcement by the staff and lack of space. They expressed resentment and fear because they felt their health was not protected enough, particularly for those pertaining to a risk group. Others were pleased with the hygiene measures ensuring their safety. Furthermore, in Germany, the clinics handled the obligation for persons concerned to wear the mask very differently, ranging from the obligation to wear a mask on the ward to wearing it voluntarily. However, persons concerned had to wear masks during therapies, when walking around the courtyard and during visits in most clinics. This obligation was perceived as burdensome but also as necessary. In some facilities, persons concerned have not been given access to disinfectants for fear they might misuse them as a drug. Within the first months of the pandemic, tests were hardly available in Austria, Germany and Italy. Therefore, neither staff nor persons concerned were regularly tested. Later, many facilities started testing the staff on a regular basis, as experts and persons concerned agree that persons coming from the outside are most likely to introduce the Coronavirus in the institution. In Germany, the staff was tested only in case of symptoms and, varying between institutions, visitors were asked to take a test. Especially in (forensic) aftercare, these tests can provide reassurance and reduce the staff's fears of posing a risk. In most cases, persons concerned showing symptoms, were tested in all three countries. Moreover, every person arriving newly to a facility was put into quarantine. These separations were one of the main challenges for the system and often affected the organisation of the entire facility, reducing spaces for the other persons concerned and activities. Being in quarantine meant being separated for 14 days and spending up to 23 hours - 22 hours in Italy - a day in their room. In order to shorten this period, as soon as more tests were available, persons concerned were tested upon arrival and only had to stay in quarantine until they had a negative test result (two to five days). Persons in quarantine only had restricted, 12

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