Abstract (eng)
By examining the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 to 1920, it becomes clear that there are some parallels to the current Corona pandemic. At that time, too, measures such as mask protection, closures of business premises, bans on outdoor events and also school closures were propagated. In addition, the Spanish flu pandemic was also characterized by several waves, although today it is much easier to distinguish it from other pathogens due to the advanced technology in medicine. At the beginning of the early 20th century, viruses could not yet be detected microscopically, so doctors were fighting an unknown pathogen. The symptoms were often attributed to other diseases such as typhus, tuberculosis or plague and thus it was very difficult to treat the sick. This, together with the fact that people were still suffering from the consequences of the First World War and the lack of knowledge about the spread of infectious diseases, led to a global spread of the Spanish flu with a worldwide death toll of about 50 million people. In recent decades, pandemic plans have therefore emerged, mainly in response to concerns about a new influenza pandemic, with various scenarios of spread being played out (Fangauer&Labisch). However, although medicine and infection and epidemic theory have developed very far in their knowledge, epidemics that have the potential to become pandemics occur again and again. The reasons for this lie on the one hand in globalization (air traffic, etc.) and on the other hand in factory farming, where there is close contact between animals and humans.
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The Corona pandemic has changed people's lives in many areas of life, but schools in particular have been the focus of attention since 2020. There have been repeated school closures and in a very short time, face-to-face teaching has had to be restructured into "homeschooling" or "distance learning". For many schools, this sudden surge in digitization was a major challenge, as many locations lacked a basic IT - infrastructure (Eickelmann&Gerick, 2020). Teachers were required to deliver lessons via learning platforms such as Moodle or Teams and to support their students in knowledge transfer and consolidation via digital means. Many teachers in Germany and Austria are not familiar with these innovations of teaching concepts and there is an urgent need for further training for teachers. Finally, especially in the time of the Corona pandemic, social inequalities have to be taken into account and measures have to be taken against them. It cannot be assumed that every student has access to a computer or has the same parental support in doing homework. Especially students who have difficulties organizing themselves are overwhelmed by "suddenly being left alone". There are students who absolutely need individual support in structuring their daily routine, in organizing their work assignments, in studying independently for tests or schoolwork.