Abstract
Health care and especially care of the elderly have come under massive pressure from the corona pandemic. Structural deficits and weak points that are not really new are now more apparent because COVID-19 has brought these back into focus. In the entire healthcare system new questions arise in the face of the current challenges. Problems and gaps now become obvious in the health care services and in the provision of care for the elderly-some of them specifically related to one area, but to a greater extent these are cross-sectoral. Based on relevant national and international studies and publications and from the perspective of social gerontology, this article focuses on the current situation in the 'long-term nursing care in Germany' in the context of the SARS-CoV‑2 virus. The results of this analysis are used to derive and outline what a new professional orientation can look like with a view to the future and what possible knowledge can be gained from the corona pandemic.