German mayor deliberately infected himself with Covid-19
"I was ill longer than I thought and got infected almost on purpose to develop immunity"
The mayor of Berlin's Mitte district announced that he intentionally infected himself with the novel coronavirus from his infected partner in order to develop immunity against the disease.
He infected himself deliberately by not self-isolating away from his girlfriend, who caught coronavirus when she was on holiday in Switzerland, reported NDTV.
The 53-year-old,Stephan von Dassel also defended his actions. According to a Deutsche Welle report, the district mayor told public broadcaster RBB that he was sick longer than he thought he would be after deliberately infecting himself.
"I was ill longer than I thought. I got infected almost on purpose to develop immunity and thought I'll be a bit sick for three days and then I'll be immune - I can't catch it and won't pass it on to anyone, but it was a lot worse than I imagined," he said.
The 53-year-old defended his actions, which go against the recommendations of health experts across the globe, by saying that he saw his illness as a "contribution" toward the long-term goal of flattening the curve of the infection.
The mayor later tweeted a statement from the Berlin Mitte office which said that he had to be quarantined for 14 days after his partner became infected, and living in close quarters with her, the infection was "hardly avoidable despite all precautionary measures".
"Since infection with a common home quarantine for 14 days is hardly avoidable despite all precautionary measures, I consciously accepted to catch it quickly," he said.
"Perhaps my statement on the radio today was misleading," Mr von Dassel added while sharing the statement on Twitter. "But my behavior was and is responsible. I was, am and remain in quarantine, until I'm no longer infectious."
