New and Dangerous Trend: Intentionally Getting Infected with COVID-19

Martin does not trust politicians - neither the numbers they mention nor the data they share. He reads the newspapers, but he likes the "alternative information" he finds in telegram chats more. As soon as he heard that the coronavirus vaccine was being worked on, his first thought was that he would not get it. Martin says he has been thinking every day since if he was wrong, but he always concludes that he made the right decision.

When you want to intentionally get the coronavirus

Martin is 32 years old and lives in Hamburg, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). He has a child, enjoys going to bars and clubs and spends a lot of time outside. But when Hamburg introduced the 2G rule at the end of the summer (vaccinated and post-sick only), he began to fear. What will happen if they impose the same restrictions on his workplace? He does not want to buy a fake vaccination certificate because he does not consider it "morally justified". An acquaintance of his tells him that he bought a fake positive PCR test and thus received the status of "post-sick". But Martin doesn't want to do that either. The only option left for him is to become infected intentionally.

The man found a group in the chat application Telegram, in which people like him are looking for a coronavirus patient to meet them. Some are even willing to pay. One user said he was under stress from his employer. Others believe that a person cannot be infected with the coronavirus, so their endeavor seems pointless. Others ask someone to send them saliva in an envelope in the mail. Demand is greater than supply. But one of the group members, Dirk Schneider, wrote: "I have covid since recently and will share it. I'm from...