Do governments put every single decision they make to a general vote? You're confusing representative democracy with direct democracy. How many countries postponed or cancelled elections due to the pandemic? Only those would be considered to have "bypassed democracy".
It's in German, I don't know what that says. Assuming it says "Thuringia postponed elections" I guess sure, lockdowns in Thuringia past the term of the existing government were not democratic. That is, if Germany has statewide Covid restrictions, rather than national ones.
Forgive me but Google Translate Exists (and not everything is reported internationally :)
And yes Germany is a weird mix of state and federal responsibilities and authority (sorta like the US just different). States are responsible for schools for example. But now Merkel wants to close _all_ schools in all of Germany. Some states object and want to keep them open. Bavaria introduced a requirement to wear FFP2 masks now, while no other state does etc.
In other words, leaders got authorization to bypass democracy.