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Boris de Groot: "We cannot afford mistakes"
Photo: Patrick Ohligschlaeger
“Before the pandemic, I often had to explain in great detail what my job was.
Today everyone understands that immediately.
We make ventilators, machines save lives.
A simple calculation.
Since Covid-19 claimed the first dead, most have only nodded appreciatively.
When the Corona started in China, we noticed that right away; at the beginning of last year, demand on the Chinese market suddenly increased.
The disease was still a long way off for the people in Europe, including us here in Lübeck.
Our order books were full, but we still felt we were safe from the virus here.
To person
Icon: enlargePhoto: Boris de Groot
Boris de Groot, 39, works as a team leader in the intensive ventilation department at Dräger.
The Lübeck-based company produces medical technology and is one of the world's largest manufacturers of ventilators, the demand for which has exploded during the corona crisis.
De Groot and his team are responsible for the production of the devices.
That changed suddenly when the first major outbreaks also occurred in Germany.
Shortly after Carnival came the U-turn in Corona policy.
Shutdown - and the federal government ordered 10,000 ventilators from us in one fell swoop.
We switched to shift work and produced practically around the clock.
In addition, we have been working in cohorts since the beginning of the pandemic, and there is always a mask requirement where the necessary distances cannot be maintained.
So far, nobody has been infected here at work.
I believe the virus has already changed our perception.
Before the pandemic, Asian tourists wearing masks were ridiculed.
We couldn't imagine that here in Europe.
Now it is quite normal to keep your distance from other people, just not to get close to them.
I think it will stay.
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