Mayor of Mitte district in Germany said that he contracted the virus on purpose from his partner hoping to develop immunity. However, he has told that it was much worse than he ever thought. Stephan von Dassel, 53, said "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...but it was a lot worse than I imagined," he said to public broadcaster RBB reported DW
Further, he told that the act of getting contracted with coronavirus was a 'contribution' in the long term flattening of the curve in fighting coronavirus. Von Dassel tweeted on Wednesday defending his actions, and called it 'responsible.'
However, such self-immunization is against the recommendations of the official health advisory. It is a known fact that the World Health Organization along with the CDC has advised to practice social distancing. Such attempts to self-immunize would make things worse and further the spread of COVID-19 infection.
Responsible act
"Perhaps my statement on the radio today was misleading. But my actions were and are responsible. I was, am and will remain in quarantine until I can no longer infect anyone," the translated tweet read.
Mitte district office tweeted "'Contagion with the COVID 19 virus was not voluntary, but inevitable.' District Mayor @DasselVon explains his statement today in an interview with the Inforadio des" as per the translation from German. It had a link his statement of Mitte district office.
"After my life partner had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, I also had to go into a fortnightly quarantine because of the contact with her. Since we neither have a second home and neither should have moved to a hotel or to friends as an infected person or I as possibly already infected, there was no alternative to the quarantine.
Since infection with a common home quarantine for 14 days can hardly be avoided despite all precautionary measures, I deliberately accepted to catch it quickly so as not to doubt the quarantine for up to four weeks. This was associated with the advantage of not being able to infect anyone for a long time and not to be infected by anyone," he said according to the statement.
