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This is how the Würzburg family is in quarantine

The time in Germersheim is painfully slow. But Thomas Scheller and his family make the best of it. Here he describes his experiences and impressions.

After a week, everyday life in quarantine is getting a bit boring. “Everything has settled in a bit here,” says Thomas Scheller on the phone. But the serenity that Würzburg already showed in the hectic pace of return from China did not leave him after a week of being locked up in the South Palatinate barracks in Germersheim. Scheller and his wife Chloe make the best of the barracking, in particular to make their three-year-old daughter’s stay in quarantine as pleasant as possible.

When Chloe’s family visited China, they were surprised by the outbreak of the corona virus. They were among the 120 citizens who had been flown to Germany by the Bundeswehr a week ago. Now they are sitting shielded in the barracks, around 100 kilometers from Frankfurt – and hope that they have not caught the virus.

A lot of praise for the volunteers

“The helpers here are doing a fantastic job to make it as easy as possible for us”, Thomas Scheller never tires of assuring. “We have no reason to complain so far.” There was varied food, lush fruit. “Mountains of toys” would help the helpers for the 20 children. For adults there is television, WiFi and books.

The photo provided by the Bundeswehr shows a view of one of the accommodations that were provided in the Germersheim Air Training Battalion for the evacuees from Wuhan.
      Photo: Frank Wiedemann, dpa

The principle of quarantine is that everyone spends the majority of the day shielded in their room. Scheller is lucky that he is not alone, but with his wife and child. “Otherwise, you only see yourself behind the mask when fetching food,” reports the Würzburg man from everyday life. “Then you can have a short chat” – at a distance of one and a half meters to prevent a possible infection.

The three meals that people bring to their rooms structure everyday life. In between there are always three to four hours that you spend there. A certain “schedule” has since been found, says Scheller, who involuntarily uses the American expression for rhythm, habit, because he has lived and worked in Chicago for years.

“A small meeting” with colleagues

He makes the best of the situation in a very pragmatic way: If he is not busy with his three-year-old daughter, he can even “work a little” on the computer. He even had a “small meeting” with colleagues online.

Thomas Scheller is more irritated by the large press run-up. Würzburg knows that some residents have already given many interviews. He did not want this and asked not to pass on his number. This editorial team had received numerous inquiries from nationwide media after the first publication about the family. He is not as afraid of the virus that is currently keeping the whole world in suspense as he is of misleading headlines.

Kai Kranich, spokesman for the German Red Cross, speaks to journalists at a press conference in front of the South Palatinate barracks. In the barracks, people from China who came from the city of Wuhan, which is severely affected by the coronavirus, are kept in quarantine.
Kai Kranich, spokesman for the German Red Cross, speaks to journalists at a press conference in front of the South Palatinate barracks. In the barracks, people from China who came from the city of Wuhan, which is severely affected by the coronavirus, are kept in quarantine.
      Photo: Uwe Anspach, dpa

Outside the fence and on the phone, Kai Kranich answers the media. The doctor at the German Red Cross is responsible for the Chinese returnees interned because of suspected corona in Germersheim. “Of course we also try to keep the restrictions as low as possible”, Kranich makes clear. There are four groups with their own exit times to leave the building. “I saw children playing outside with their parents.”

Helpful but careful

Nevertheless, one is on guard: If someone wants to get something in the kiosk, he steps at the counter and points to the object that he needs. “Then he steps back so that the helper can put the item on the counter,” Kranich explains the rules of the game. “Then the helper goes back so that the person can take the object and both of them don’t touch.”

Local politicians such as Sascha Hofmann, first deputy of the city of Germersheim, are also struggling to keep calm. “Of course we had to fight some of the local residents’ fears. But we notice that it is abating. They see what the Red Cross and the Bundeswehr are doing here,” he says in front of the cameras.

Education against fear of local residents

In front of around 50 press representatives, Hofmann, together with District Administrator Fritz Brechtel and Kranich, tries to explain what is currently happening to the isolated people. “There is a strict ban on contact in the corridors,” explains Brechtel. 20 volunteers from the Red Cross have gone to the isolated people and are now also living in the quarantine unit.

“You are about to take a throat swab with cotton swabs,” he says. “At the latest in four to five days, we will know whether other people have been infected with the virus,” says the district administrator. If an infection is found, the patient is brought to the clinic.

“Doctors are among the helpers,” says Kranich. “They approach everyone, ask how it works, measure fever. Nobody complains about coughing yet. Everyone is fine.” The helpers are also examined. They work in the so-called black area. And because they are in direct contact with the isolated people, they will be allowed to leave the South Palatinate barracks again in two weeks at the earliest until the end of the quarantine.

No more packages

Outside parcels were initially allowed to improve the supply situation and to allow a little privacy with personal belongings from relatives. Then it was banned for security reasons.

The quarantine makes them all a community of fate: If the test is positive, the quarantine time for all 120 could be extended by a further two weeks. This prospect is far more frightening for most residents than the cheese-cream noodles when serving food, which some complained about in interviews.

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) visited the South Palatinate barracks a few days ago.
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) visited the South Palatinate barracks a few days ago.
      Photo: Boris Roessler, dpa

The visit of Health Minister Jens Spahn was only noticed from afar when he walked along the fence, says Scheller. The shielding also works here. And the official of the Red Cross had told them what concerns are also outside in front of the fence of the South Palatinate barracks – and what sometimes strange flowers are doing it.

Suspicion has not been confirmed

That is precisely why “we were very relieved when the medical officer informed us that the one suspected case was not confirmed here,” says Scheller. The helpers from the Red Cross tried very hard to avoid a camp freak among those waiting. Scheller is in contact with parents and friends in Würzburg.

Nobody has a fever, nobody coughs. And even the kids stay calm – as long as the WiFi works. The returnees had been examined immediately after arriving in Frankfurt. A second test was carried out five days later. Because the doctors know: in many cases, the disease breaks out within those who carry the virus within five days. “So far there was nothing, says Thomas Scheller, who counts the days.” If it stays that way, we’ll be out in a week. “Then they want to visit his parents in Würzburg – and then finally fly back to the USA.” I have the flight already booked. “

(with material from dpa)

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