Retirement and nursing homes and after the lockdown. The focus was on the following topics: How did the institutions prepare for the pandemic? What kind of support were they offered? What do they need? What have they learned and what are the most important issues they want to tell political decision-makers ? The results of the survey were presented via the media by Ombudsman Bernhard Achitz on 2 July 2020 and published on the AOB website. It was strongly emphasised that politicians should draw conclusions from the survey when preparing for a possible second wave of infection. From mid-April 2020, the care services found it frustrating that they received documentation from different authorities, associations and expert groups, which sometimes turned out to be highly complex and some of the recommendations were impossible to implement. Great pains had to be taken to firstly translate much of the information into checklists using a language that both care staff, residents and their relatives could understand. The need for concrete regulations and recommendations was addressed repeatedly. Insufficient concrete information The responses showed that the lack of state support coupled with the absence of help in procuring PPE and delays in evaluating PCR tests in the early stages of the pandemic were perceived as extremely frustrating. In many cases, there were only PPE reserves because there had been an outbreak of influenza or the norovirus at the beginning of 2020. In March 2020, a pandemic box was available in 25% of care facilities in Burgenland, 33% in Salzburg, 42% in Lower Austria and Tyrol, 45% in Carinthia, 47% in Upper Austria, 54% in Vorarlberg, 66% in Vienna and 69% in Styria. Personnel reserves were inadequate and there were no pools to fall back on in crises. This was the case in particular when experienced staff became ill, were no longer allowed to enter the country from abroad or had to go into quarantine. The staff shortages could not be fully compensated despite the deployment of additional persons performing community service. The 2nd COVID-19 Measures Act (2. COVID-19-Maßnahmengesetz) made it possible to deploy persons without care training or qualifications as well as persons who have completed their training abroad but whose qualifications are not yet recognised. These options were used as a consequence of the staff shortages. Employers are required to look after the health of employees working in longterm care as part of their duty of care. It was already clear from the legal provisions existing before the coronavirus crisis that employees must be protected from harm to their lives and their health in particular and that chronic stress must be prevented. Unilateral last minutes changes to the shift plan are only permissible in emergencies and special circumstances, but they were often necessary during the pandemic. The staffing levels were not increased however: on the contrary, in some Laender the existing tight minimum staffing and specialist ratios were lowered until March 2021. Employers‘ duty of care 28