"All this hysteria is terrifying"

Heinsberg is severely affected by the coronavirus. The business people there are trying to use pragmatism. The greatest losses are still to come.

Birgit Wilms-Regen has switched to survival mode. As the first reports of a spread of the coronavirusappeared in the Heinsberg district, the phone rang more often than usual in the Hotel Haus Wilms. However, the callers did not have good news. They canceled all nights for the next two weeks. These included mainly business people whose appointments in the region had been spontaneously canceled due to the virus. Wilms-Regen stood there without guests and without work for their 20 employees. Only two regular guests were not deterred. But they too could save their trip to Wassenberg. Boss Wilms-Regen temporarily closed the hotel and sent some employees on vacation. But she doesn't want to whine about the virus that is beating her up. "We have to stand together and think solution-oriented."

The coronavirus has been spreading in the Heinsberg district for almost two weeks and since then has not only affected health and nerves, but also the economic cycle. In the meantime, 1,000 people have been quarantined, schools and daycare centers throughout the district remain closed until March 15. Parents are there for their children without care. Employers worry that their employees will fail and fear economic losses.

State aid soon "inevitable"

The need for advice has increased significantly in the last few days, says Ulrich Schirowski, Managing Director of the Economic Promotion Agency (WFG) in Heinsberg . Questions are asked about default payments for employees, short-time working benefits, but also bridging loans in order to secure liquidity. The demand was so great that the WFG hurriedly put together information and published it on the website on Thursday.

"Hoteliers and restaurateurs are particularly uneasy," says Schirowski. Hardly anyone wants to go out to eat at the moment, restaurants remain empty, there are hardly any reservations, and tourists no longer either. For some companies, the supply chains to Asia are also disrupted. "If the corona crisis continues here, it should be inevitable that many companies will need government aid." For some, it could be about existence. "The little ones can hit it after just a few weeks."

The companies in the Heinsberg district were in a good mood recently. The district was at the top of the mood barometer of the Aachen Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The structures in the westernmost district of the Federal Republic, not far from the border with the Netherlands, are inconspicuous but robust: a lot of agriculture, export-oriented mechanical engineering, food industry, and the RWE lignite mine Garzweiler II belongs to the district of Heinsberg. The largest employer with around 1,500 employees is a branch of the Schwarz Group, which, as the parent company, controls the retailers Lidl and Kaufland.

"All this hysteria is terrifying"

But now the business location fears for its good image. At the moment, Heinsberg is known primarily as the number one corona cooker in Germany. The fact that Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn has now called on citizens to avoid unnecessary trips to North Rhine-Westphalia because of Corona will probably not improve the situation in Heinsberg.