Last year, the coronavirus pandemic upended life as we knew it.

In the blink of a eye, what was once normal was flipped upside down, twisted inside out and left behind.

Stevenage has been twinned with Ingelheim am Rhein, an historic German town of about 26,000 people that lies just south of the Rhine River, since 1963.

The town's economic roots stem from scientific success stories, and it is one of the most prosperous places to live in the Rhineland-Palatinate state.

Global pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim was founded in the town in the 19th century and the Bioscentia laboratory, one of Germany's most important coronavirus scientific testing facilities, can also be found in Ingelheim.

%image(15624449, type="article-full", alt="Coronavirus tests are processed at one of Germany's most important laboratories in Ingelheim")

But what has life been like in Ingelheim over the past 12 months, and how does it compare to our experience here in Stevenage?

I interviewed journalists Anita Pleic, Frank Schmidt-Wyk and Dennis Buchwald of Allgemeine Zeitung to hear about what life has been like in Ingelheim since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The first local news coverage of coronavirus cases in Ingelheim began in February, after case numbers slowly crept up and the town's only hospital was turned into a "coronavirus clinic" in March, Anita explains.

Their most experienced reporter, Frank, was on holiday in Vienna when their first news story of a train being stopped due to a suspected COVID-19 case was shared on February 26.

Anita adds: "It escalated quickly. We had never seen anything like this.

"Social distancing measures started in the middle of March and masks were sold out in all our local pharmacies. We went on national lockdown the next week."

Germany's first national lockdown began in Bavaria on March 19, with a similar national rollout by March 25.

The total number of recorded infections in Ingelheim is 841, a fraction of the 5,300 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Stevenage.

%image(15624452, type="article-full", alt="Shoppers wear masks while shopping in Ingelheim.")

Their second lockdown began on December 16 and although the number of cases in Germany continues to fall, national newspapers are reporting that the lockdown there is likely to be extended until March.

Frank said: "We started reporting every single new case there was last March, but now we just do general numbers."

"Our online subscription numbers are increasing - that shows how much people value the information we are providing within their local newspaper," Anita adds.

The biggest stories in Ingelheim included articles that questioned how prepared the town was to respond to coronavirus challenges, school closures and the cancellation of beloved local events like the Ingelheimer Festival.

But the most read stories involved the town's only hospital, which had 130 beds and would cater exclusively for coronavirus patients until it was closed in December 2020.

Ingelheim residents were furious when their local newspaper revealed there were plans to close the town's sole hospital, with rumours suggesting it would be replaced by luxury flats.

%image(15624454, type="article-full", alt="The public's reaction to the closure of Ingelheim's only hospital has been one of dismay. The writing on the window says: "Luxury apartments are to be built here".")

Frank said: "It's one of the biggest topics we covered. It was closed for economic reasons, because it doesn't make enough money. It had nothing to do with coronavirus.

"No-one understood this. We are one of the richest towns in Germany. Since the spring, it was a specialised 'corona hospital', but seven months later it is closed."

If you contract COVID-19 in Ingelheim you now have to almost 10 miles to the next nearest hospital in Mainz, the region's capital.

%image(15624458, type="article-full", alt="The last days of Ingelheim's hospital. Coronavirus cases have been significantly lower there than in Stevenage.")

In Ingelheim, the pandemic has evoked memories of the Second World War - large scale community efforts pulling together to fight back against enemies.

Anita says: "The pandemic changed a lot about German behaviour, instead of slowly getting to know one another, we all tried to help out immediately.

"People got very creative in order to help each other, to make sure no-one was left behind or isolated.

"We had neighbourhood campaigns, people doing shopping for elderly neighbours, a woman set-up a helpline to allow lonely people to call her. It was great to see.

"Although we don't have our own Captain Tom, he was a hero for Germans too!"

Frank continues: "Yes, it wasn't people working in solidarity, we are all pulling together to help out as one big family in the neighbourhood."