In purely mathematical terms, the Rostock ice rink saved around 200 lives. According to the federal average, so many more people would have died of Covid-19 in the Hanseatic city on the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Baltic coast. But to date there are only 43.
And that’s because of the ice rink.
And to Claus Ruhe Madsen. In the fight against Corona, the mayor of Rostock turned his city into a Gaulish village after he realized the horror scenario.
«We talked about emergency hospitals, where we set them up. We went through sports halls, swimming pools, marble halls. One said: If we have to get people there, we’ve actually given them up. And then, “says Madsen, something like Germany’s most successful Corona politician,” someone mentioned the ice rink.
Even in the video call, you seem to feel he’s still getting chicken skin when he remembers that moment when he realized how bad the pandemic could get in the worst case. «I said the ice rink – please. It won’t be such a big problem that we people have to deal with it. They said to me: We need them when our crematoria are no longer sufficient. “
“There was actually a lack of everything”
The Dane Claus Ruhe Madsen, in his late forties with a full beard and distinctive glasses, grew up in the Ruhr area and was an entrepreneur for a long time. In September 2019 he became mayor of Rostock. Corona came just six months later.
“It’s really terrifying how it really was back then. There was actually a lack of everything, not even enough protective material. We had a pandemic plan, but no experience. ” Madsen had looked at the plan beforehand – out of curiosity. “I’ve always been amazed that everything is laid down in detail. I found that strange. ” That has changed. “It is very important that you do not waste time on who you invite to a crisis meeting, for example.”
Concert canceled when it wasn’t even compulsory
Madsen’s first big decision: to cancel a concert with 5500 visitors in the town hall on the same day. It was March 11, 2020, and only the next day did the German government decide to drastically restrict public life. He could also run the concert, said the Rostock health department. A rejection would be expensive, feared advisors.
Madsen did it anyway.
This set the tone for the next year and a half. Madsen went his own way with the Rostockers, listened to experts, read his mind. And caught the eye “due to a particularly cautious and idiosyncratic course”, as it is said again and again when the successful local politician is introduced somewhere.
«I had heard a lecture from the President of the Robert Koch Institute. He told us for 30 minutes how critical the whole thing is. And he said: Dear Mayor, it now depends on you. We have to throw the administration overboard. It’s a matter of life and death, ”says Madsen.
Rostock has never given up contact tracing
However, the authorities stand in the way of the busy mayor. «I decided to close the schools, so the Prime Minister called me and asked me not to do that. Then we quickly built up capacity for 5000 tests per day and initially only received a box with 50 tests, ”says Madsen.
A local company then helped out. “To do this, we set up a switchboard, took people out of the labor inspectorate and put them into contact tracking, and the processes were constantly optimized.” The goal: never, ever, never to lose contact tracing.
Even when Germany was deep red across the board, the corona situation in Rostock was still comparatively relaxed. The incidence only rose briefly once.
Rostock also vaccinates faster than other cities
And Madsen rewarded his Rostockers: Whenever possible, he relaxed, relied on contact tracing via app to open restaurants and retail outlets and, as part of an experiment, let hundreds of fans into the football stadium in mid-March – the incidence was just five times lower than the national average.
He also made pace with the vaccinations. In Rostock family doctors were allowed to poke earlier than anywhere else, 59 percent of the population received at least one dose, 41 percent are fully vaccinated – each five percentage points more than the national average.
Madsen already has a ten-year plan for “his” city
To this day, Madsen is non-party. “All these conferences and everything, that’s not my world.” And he has still not applied for a German passport. A career in federal politics is therefore impossible.
But he doesn’t want to leave Rostock anyway. “For me, mayor is the best job in the world.” He has a ten-year plan to digitize the entire administration and make the Hanseatic city attractive to young people despite its remote location.
If you google innovative forms of living, Rostock should appear high in the search results. Madsen goes into raptures when he talks about his ideas.
If he is only half as successful as in the pandemic, that should turn out well.
The Rostock ice rink, 2000 seats and home to the “Rostock Piranhas”, was off the table as a possible mortuary after Madsen’s chicken skin. It was clear to his team that the mayor would not let it get that far.