Germany: In Saxony, the long COVID winter has already begun

They've seen this all before, the people of Bautzen: First a quick spike in infections, then come the new restrictions. And then come the journalists from Berlin. The inhabitants of this small city, usually famous for its many medieval towers, are just plain tired of it all.

Here, in eastern Saxony, near the Polish border, people are at the end of their second pandemic year — just like many others. But the virus doesn't care about that. It continues to rage, and last Friday, Germany saw its infection rate hit a new record. And whoever goes to Saxony will get a taste of what the country's fourth wave will look like.

Saxony on the verge of a new lockdown

The seven-day incidence rate is 645.3, three times higher than the national average. Intensive care units are so overrun that non-essential surgeries are being rescheduled.

According to one Bautzen resident, who had just come back from visiting her daughter, a doctor, at work — what medical personnel are dealing with at the moment is nothing short of horrifying.

Saxony's state government has now implemented new restrictions on residents. Among other things, indoor spaces such as restaurants and museums must now require visitors to provide proof that they have been fully vaccinated or have recently recovered from COVID-19. A negative test is no longer enough.

On the streets of Bautzen, deep divisions reign. For many, the new regulations make sense in light of the high number of infections. However, for many others, the rules are "vaccine mandates by another name."

"For me, this is blackmail from officials, simply put," a young woman told DW. She said she would not be deterred from her decision not to get vaccinated. "It is my body and I decide."

'I don't know how it can continue like this'

Ramona Hoerold has other worries. For 11 years, she has run a cafe on the city's market square. The lockdown last year deeply hurt her business. And now it's about to begin again. Already this morning came the first cancellation — a baptism, 32 guests. The new regulations mean unvaccinated guests cannot enter the restaurant. Hoerold estimates a 50% loss.

Politicians are running small restaurants into the ground, she says. "We spent years building a business, which was going well, and then it was ruined within a year and a half," Hoerold says, her voice shaking. She says she doesn't know how things can continue like this.

Trust, don't pressure, the unvaccinated

Alexander Ahrens, a Social Democrat (SPD) and the mayor of Bautzen, is under the impression the regulations are meant to above all put pressure on the unvaccinated.

Germany's vaccination rate is lagging behind many other European countries, and in Saxony, that number is dragging even further. Only about 57% of the population is fully vaccinated, compared to about 66% nationwide. And it's the unvaccinated that are taking up most of the hospital beds. According to research from public broadcaster MDR, about two-thirds of patients in intensive care units in the eastern states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt are unvaccinated.

The mayor believes that the only way to end the pandemic is to increase the vaccination rate. For that reason, he is doubtful that the new restrictions will move people to get jabbed.

On the high walls of Ahrens' office hang pieces of contemporary art and certificates from his life as a lawyer in Shanghai and Berlin. It's the lawyer in him who worries about the effects of more regulations on the lives of the unvaccinated.

"Precisely when it comes to people who are uncertain or people who are making a decision based on their conscience, this kind of pressure is counterproductive," the mayor says.

He feels it would behoove public institutions much more, to win back public trust that has been lost over many years. "With new rules like these, they're not doing Bautzen any favors."

Protest against so-called 'COVID tyrants'

On Monday evening, it becomes clear just how much convincing Ahrens has ahead of him. Like every Monday, people have gathered in Bautzen's Kornmarkt square to protest the new regulations.

This time the crowd is about 500 strong, a pretty small group considering the city has about 40,800 inhabitants. Most participants consider themselves members of the "Querdenker" or "Lateral Thinker" movementthat has taken up most of the oxygen in Germany's anti-vaccine scene in the past year.

Among the demonstrators are many parents with their children, moving through the city with candles and chanting "every jab is one too many." They see themselves as opponents to "tyranny" — as politician Karsten Hilse puts it that evening. Hilse represents Bautzen in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, and is a member of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

"These are fascist regulations, it is the exclusion of entire groups of people, and that is incitement to hatred!" he shouts into the microphone.

Despite organizers claiming they sought peaceful dialogue with those who disagree with them, not a single demonstrator wanted to speak with DW, who they referred to as part of the "lying media." On the same night, a camera team was attacked at a similar demonstration in the city of Zwickau, we were on the receiving end of insults and condemnations.

The residents of Bautzen agree on one thing: that they want to see an end to the pandemic. But the question of how to get there has split the city. And Germany's second COVID winter is only just beginning.

This article has been translated from German.

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