Berliners say “So What?” to a new rise of COVID cases in Germany
Berlin Beyond Borders reporters fanned out across Berlin to survey residents and visitors about the latest phase of the pandemic
By Sindhu Ananthavel, Lian Benasuly, Richelle Boyd, Alexandra Goldberg, Yulene Teagle-Alarcon and Emma Toscani
BERLIN — Berlin is a city in flux as COVID-19 infection rates are again on the rise just as all levels of government are lifting restrictions and the public shows signs of exhaustion and apathy about rules that remain.
Since June 1, Germany has no longer required negative test results to enter the country and the only place masks are still legally required is on public transit systems and the national rail system. These minimal measures have been extended to July 27.
Still, few passengers on buses and trains are wearing masks. Some residents in Berlin still follow official guidelines but there is little worry about getting the virus.
“I think it’s an issue for sure, but it’s part of our lives now,” said Paol Herman of the corona virus threat.
Herman is a 23-year-old director, making commercials in Berlin. His employer stopped production at the beginning of the pandemic but started up when restrictions were lifted. Herman said that he tests daily for COVID-19 for his job, but he no longer wears a mask except on public transportation. He hopes cases won’t increase but he isn’t paying attention to news about the COVID-19 at the moment.
Since the end of May — the last time a drop in cases was observed — infections have gone up, by some accounts as much as 129 percent for the Omicron variant. Record kept by Berlin’s city council show 4,330 cases were reported over the third weekend in June, alone in a city of nearly 3.7 million.
After a spring season of declining COVID-19 numbers, Berliners don’t seem to be too concerned.
“The fear of Corona has faded,” said Orestis Goumenos, a 37-year-old musician who lives in Berlin’s central Mitte district. “You can go to most stores without a mask, and you’re only required to wear it in public transportation,” he said.
When asked if it’s time to return to normal life, Goumenos said, “I think we already have.”
But locals like Elana Seginol fear that a heavy uptick of summer travel will bring another wave of the virus that will leave Berlin in lockdown once again, closing businesses and halting social interactions.
Seginol’s sole source of income is working for the gastropub-on-wheels Morgen Wird Besser (Tomorrow Will Be Better), a pub-style food truck that sells dishes to attendees at street events. She relies on this paycheck to feed her husband and three daughters.
“Right now, it’s perfect. We are living again and everybody is living again,” Seginol said. “But if there is another wave, we’ll have to close down like everybody else. There will be no money and no contact with people. You are alone and the kids suffer because they cannot see their friends. You cannot get money for food or for your home.”
It has been one month since the 3G rule that required travelers to be geimpft, genesen or getestet — vaccinated, recovered or tested — was relaxed for travelers entering the country.
This has enabled tourists such as Guy Lindsay, 20, to spend his summer vacation in Berlin. Lindsay traveled from Scotland where the Corona restrictions are more lax, he said in an interview at the central Alexanderplatz square.
“Scotland has really eased the restrictions, and here in Germany it’s quite strict. I was on the train without a mask and some guy told us off,” Lindsay said. “In Scotland, we’re all going to concerts and partying again which is good for us as young ones.”
While Linsday is vaccinated, other youth visiting the city are not. African student Jonas Kimbesi doubts the efficacy of a vaccine that fails to block transmission of the illness between people.
“I question the government. Why can I get the vaccine, but still get infected with Corona,” Kimbesi asked. “My dad also doesn’t want to vaccinate me because he’s afraid of it. In Africa, they are afraid to get the vaccine against malaria as well.”
Berlin tour guide Cole Rulebach said he still prefers to wear a mask in most public spaces. Rulebach thinks that Germans have “collectively decided that we’re done.”
“I’m kind of fine with that, because last time I checked the hospitalization rates were about 90% unvaccinated people, and I’m just kind of done with stopping the entire world because 20% in the world thinks they’re smarter than every doctor,” he said.
During the first months of the pandemic, the German government’s COVID policies forced stores and restaurants to shut down. But now, restaurants, clubs, and stores are all open to the public.
“At this point, a lot of people are quite over Corona to be honest. A lot of people don’t take it seriously anymore,” said 22-year-old Katrina Banneot, who returned to Berlin from University of Amsterdam to finish her undergraduate degree online. “But I also don’t think you need to take it as seriously — as long as most people are vaccinated. We can’t continue putting our lives on hold because of the pandemic.”
But the sense of normalcy does not correspond to the actual number of cases in Germany. In the third week of June, cases rose by over 30% nationwide, according to a recent weekly report conducted by the Robert Koch Institute.
For the most part, city residents report satisfaction with the government’s response to the COVID threat and the various regulations it has imposed. Some recalled staggered grocery shopping times enforced by the government at the pandemic’s onset, when older people would shop in the morning at busy supermarkets and younger people would shop in the evening.
Several of those interviewed say they don’t blame the government for the on-again off-again COVID policies because the disease is rapidly changing and a government can never please everyone.
“A lot of people have complaints about all the choices made by the government. I don’t think it’s in any way possible for the government to do right by every person,” Banneot said.
Judith Orred, 68, from Mitte, said she felt the German government did well during the pandemic. “For all of the unknowns, yes, I think the government did the best they could.”
Near the Memorial Museum to the Berlin Wall, a group of teenage girls on a school trip from Cologne, Germany walked down the street, masks at the ready, worn around their wrists or pulled down to their chin as they read their map. They standover six feet away from others, talking amongst themselves about the fastest route.
Though they are taking precautions, they are ready to get back into action. “We’ve had a process where it has been bad in winter and spring, and then it’s good in summer,” says 16-year-old student Emily Lepka. “And then once we get autumn it’s bad again.”
A teen and her grandmother from Baden-Wurttemberg finish up their tour of the Berlin Wall Memorial, glad to be able to travel again. “We want to enjoy things while we still can before the next way of corona comes along,” said 67-year-old Rosi Ulpser. “We can enjoy the things that are open now that boundaries have been lifted.”
Still, the trauma of two major lockdown periods is still hard to get over. “Because of Corona, people have mental problems, kids have missed too much school, and people are not in good shape anymore,” said one middle aged shop salesperson.
Andrea Bouras, a 22-year-old college student in Berlin said meetings with friends were severely limited and government regulations were strict.
“We really couldn’t see anyone else outside our immediate household,” she said. As of April 2020, schooling took place at home and was conducted remotely, but once October 2021 rolled in, university classes gradually returned to in-person.
Rali Petrova, a 23-year-old student journalist from Bulgaria said the latest wave of new corona cases hasn’t slowed anyone, and people are excited to keep going forward, even with the risk of getting sick.
Petrova, who had Corona during November 2021, is thankful for the current lull in the pandemic and is hopeful about the future. “I appreciate being able to go out again,” Petrova said. “It makes you realize how good things are, things you didn’t think of before.”
