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Corona expert Drosten, Brinkmann, Streeck, Eckerle and Meyer-Hermann
Photo: Jesco Denzel / DER SPIEGEL, Jörg Müller / Agentur Focus / DER SPIEGEL, Peter Rigaud / DER SPIEGEL, picture alliance / Keystone, Eventpress Stauffenberg / picture alliance / Eventpress
Last October, when the Robert Koch Institute reported a new record number of corona cases, Hendrik Streeck invited a camera team to his apartment.
So it came about that an RTL reporter stood in front of the door of "probably Germany's most famous virologist" to get to know him and his retriever Sam "in private".
Home stories by stars are often intended to polish up the image of a person who has been battered by the media.
Streeck's edition, on the other hand, begins with a dubious dialogue: »Leave the mask on or take off?« Asks the reporter.
Streeck, who does not wear a face mask himself, waves it away: "We keep our distance."
The two go into the house and crouch on the edge of the sofa.
Several minutes follow in which the researcher answers questions about his life, cries out when the retriever snaps at his hand - and keeps very little distance from the reporter.
Both the homestory and the talk show have so far not been part of the habitual habitat of researchers - and Streeck's appearance was also only conditionally suited to instilling trust in a science that so massively determines life in times of the pandemic.
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