Pandemic consequences: Care and trade: What is the situation five years after Corona?

Nursing staff were considered essential during the coronavirus pandemic and were applauded for their work and their enormous commitment. Restaurants , hotels, cinemas, retail stores and cultural institutions had to close completely at times and feared for their existence. What is the situation five years later?

"Five years after the corona pandemic, the situation in nursing has hardly improved," says the State Nursing Chamber. Staff shortages, high time pressure and increasing administrative workloads continue to burden professionals. According to a study, social recognition is perceived as inadequate. Half of those under 30 are thinking about leaving the profession.

After the Corona crisis, it also became clear that disaster protection is not geared towards people in need of care, says Christine Orth-Theis, spokeswoman for the State Nursing Chamber. "This became particularly clear during the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley , when many of those affected did not receive the necessary support." In order to ensure care in emergencies, nursing professionals must be integrated into crisis teams, special care standards must be developed and emergency plans must be regularly trained in facilities.

"Our Long Covid is the lack of employees," says the president of the Dehoga regional association, Gereon Haumann. About a quarter of employees migrated to the retail or logistics sector during the pandemic. About 85 percent were able to be won back, but the rest are still missing.

In addition, more than 20 percent of businesses have fallen by the wayside. Before Corona , there were around 12,800 businesses and after only 10,300. Some have managed to reopen in a modernized manner, others have largely used up their equity capital, "then one drop quickly makes the cup overflow," says Haumann, referring to rising prices after Corona. Last year, around five percent (500 businesses) had to close again.

The current demand for repayment of Corona aid is an existential question, especially for smaller businesses, says Thomas Scherer, managing director of the Southwest Retail Association. Many retailers have little or no scope for investment because of the repayments. Also because other crises followed Corona, with energy and rents rising, some businesses have not yet been able to recover.

"The hairdressing trade is still in difficulties five years after the start of the corona pandemic," says Dirk Kleis, managing director of the Rhineland State Association of Hairdressers and Cosmetics. The salons had to close three times during the pandemic. The distance and hygiene rules had cost every second workstation in many salons and caused high costs, for example for partition walls.

Sharply increased costs for personnel, energy, inflation and less frequent visits to the hairdresser have prevented businesses from recovering in the following years. The economic situation in the industry is tense. "The increasing illegal work is also contributing to this." The mass repayment notices for Corona emergency aid have now caused outrage. "This is where businesses are being further weakened."

In most cultural institutions, the audience has largely returned, with visitor numbers often reaching the level of 2019, reports the spokesman for the Ministry of Culture, Nils Dettki. "Many institutions such as the Arp Museum, the Mainz State Theater, the Kammgarn Kaiserslautern cultural center, the Nibelungen Festival in Worms or the German Film Festival in Ludwigshafen recorded record numbers of visitors in 2024."

All activities for children and young people recovered very quickly. Cultural activities in rural areas, such as small and medium-sized museums, on the other hand, have not yet attracted as many visitors as before the pandemic.

"Another new development is that audiences today tend to decide to attend events at short notice, making planning more difficult for event organizers," said Dettki. Many service providers in the event industry have also changed careers during the pandemic. As a result, there is now a shortage of staff and companies, especially in technology, which has led to a sharp increase in costs for those working in the arts.

The cinema landscape in Rhineland-Palatinate has not recovered as well as that in other states, according to the German Federal Film Board in Berlin. This is measured primarily by the number of tickets sold, because cinema closures have other causes. According to the report, around 3.6 million cinema tickets were sold in Rhineland-Palatinate last year, around a quarter less than in 2019. The number of venues fell by 3 to 65.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:250225-930-386055/1