The example of the compulsory mask clearly shows the social problems that the current pandemic management entails and how important a change of perspective and a reframing are – from the compulsory mask to the right to a mask, because there is a right to the protection of health. It is clear that the mask can only be one building block in the solution to the crisis. It is logical that the mask can only be one component in the solution to the crisis. Equally important is the financial support for those who are in need because of the pandemic. While a few benefit from the pandemic,⁸ the financial challenges are enormous, especially for families living on Hartz IV.⁹ Hygiene articles (mask, disinfectant) have to be bought, school materials for children have to be printed out, day-care and school meals are no longer available and many mini-jobs have been lost. When it comes to cushioning the effects of the pandemic, people affected by poverty are forgotten by politicians. For example, the Corona supplement of 150€ on Hartz IV only came nine months later,¹⁰ while emergency aid for the car industry of three billion euros was already available last year.¹¹

The pandemic poses different challenges for our profession. On one hand, we have a mandate towards our addressees who are particularly suffering from the consequences of the pandemic. Poverty and disease are closely linked. At the same time, we have a political mandate that calls on us to stand up for the professional ethics of social work and human rights – for example, for the right to masks. In order to be able to stand up for our profession and its demands in a powerful way, the individual struggle has to be bundled and we have to unite and organise.