Mr. Wieler, it's almost three years since Corona arrived in Germany.

When did you realize back then that the virus was a problem?

Kim Bjorn Becker

Editor in Politics.

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That must have been in February 2020.

It became clear that China is no longer able to contain the virus.

At the beginning there was still hope that the spread in Germany could be limited once it got here.

But at the latest when we saw the pictures from Bergamo in Italy, the overburdened hospitals, it became obvious that this would not be kept under control in the long run.

How did you experience this first time?

I was aware that such a pandemic would last at least two years because there was initially no immunity in the population.

I spent several hours every day in discussions with the experts in the RKI's crisis center.

What do we know?

How do we assess the situation?

What information comes from China?

From morning to evening I was almost exclusively concerned with Corona.

And explained to everyone what we knew at the time: the minister, the political environment, and the citizens.

They are much more in the public eye than before.

One reads hostilities online, and there was an attempted arson attack on the institute.

How do you deal with that?

This is part of the job profile.

When you apply here, you know that there can be criticism – if not in this form.

Before that I was a university teacher for many years.

In the professional world it had been clear for decades that there would one day be a major pandemic - they just didn't know which pathogen it would be and when it would come.

So I was a little prepared for that in my mind.

It is important that you can focus on your work in this situation.

How do you stay focused when threatened?

That didn't move me all that much.

A lot of things got stuck with the employees, not everything got through to me.

The achievements of our employees cannot be overestimated.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach only takes to the streets with an escort.

Can you still move normally?

My life is the same as it was before the pandemic started.

Over time you have become a nationally known corona explainer.

Do you feel comfortable in this role?

That's the job that comes with this office.

But in hindsight I wish I had explained some things better.

What would you do differently?

For example, we have shortened the recommendation for how long an infected person should isolate themselves several times because knowledge about Corona has grown over time.

I don't think everyone understood how knowledge about the virus changed over time and why that led to different conclusions.

Were you still too much a professor?

I would not say that.

I was actually never the prototype of this scholar.

My concern has always been to explain the connections to the students so that they can make well-informed decisions.

I think it's more about how you convey something.

I should have taken more time for some things.

And I probably overestimated the prior knowledge of the people.