Christian Drosten admits the pandemic surprised him, despite having worked on coronaviruses for 17 years. By Kai KupferschmidtScience’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.BERLIN—On a recent Monday morning, Christian Drosten said goodbye to his wife and 2-year-old son in front of his apartment block and got on his bicycle for his daily commute to the Charité University Hospital here.It looked like a scene from normal daily life.
But of course it wasn’t. His wife was going for a walk with their child instead of bringing him to the day care center, which was closed.
The Berlin streets Drosten traversed were eerily quiet, most shops were closed, and some people on the sidewalks wore masks.