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Covid survivor Breimhorst, shower facility manager in Hövelhof: "A nightmare"
Photo: Michael Löwa / DER SPIEGEL
Anna Dusch says she gets goose bumps when she thinks about the scenes from spring.
Dusch heads the Caritas nursing home in Hövelhof, a community near Paderborn.
The coronavirus broke out there in mid-March, 21 employees and eleven senior citizens were infected in a short time, and three people died.
Visiting the home was forbidden for almost two months.
"A nightmare," says Dusch.
She is sitting in a meeting room, her hands freshly disinfected, FFP2 mask on her mouth and nose.
Dusch tells how the coronavirus spread to the dementia ward in March, how they had to rebuild and lock the doors of the area according to order, and how they had to lock the residents in, so to speak.
She tells of "seasoned nurses who burst into tears".
From dying seniors who were not allowed to have a visit from pastors because of the strict requirements.
And of relatives who are still suffering today because they "only saw their mother again in an urn".
Shower swallows a lump in his throat.
"This time traumatized us," she says, looking out the window.
Infection numbers are exploding in many places.
Everything is still quiet in the facility in Hövelhof, there is no known positive case.
But Dusch gets up in the morning "again with a bad gut feeling".
Everyone in the home is "in constant vigilance".
No matter how careful you are, it can start again at any moment.
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