The paper discusses current health policies in Germany in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic from a medico-epidemiological, sociological and political viewpoint  focusing on labour relations and, more specifically, nursing work in general  hospitals and in care homes. Based on empirical research by the author that took  place in hospitals and nursing homes after March 2020, his findings signal to  urgently needed changes both in occupational health policies as well as ownership structures of healthcare institutions. In order to improve workers’ occupational health the author argues for workers to take back control over their immediate working conditions. Past experiences of social struggles for such improvements, such as Italian experiences in ‘workers’ medicine’ or similar shop-floor based experiments in Germany should be  taken into account for such a renewed attempt to ameliorate workers’ occupational  health.