The restrictions due to the Coronavirus annoy almost everybody all around the world. The restrictions also differ from country to country. How would you like it if you couldn’t even have a barbecue with friends anymore, and if you did, you’d have to pay a §270 fine? That’s one of the problems German teenagers have to face at the moment because the virus is spread even more widely in Germany than in the US.

As of Thursday, March 25, there are currently more than 33,000 confirmed cases in Germany. That might not sound like very many compared to the United States, which has more than 55,000 cases, but you also have to consider that Germany is much smaller than the United States and the German population is almost 4 times smaller than the American population.

Just like here, German schools are cancelled and students have to deal with online classes. Most schools in Germany usually don’t use any computers, which is why these online classes are very confusing, especially to the teachers, and to some students as well. As of right now, the amount of time school is cancelled depends on where you live, but most people are supposed to go back to school by the end of April. In the city where l used to live, school is cancelled for five weeks total, but two of these weeks are spring break, so the students are only homeschooling for three weeks.

Activities are postponed for an undetermined amount of time too. Last week, professional soccer games and other sports took place, but no fans were allowed to attend the games. Now everything, including practices are cancelled completely.

The German population has been in quarantine for more than a week already, but at first, not very many people took it seriously. A lot of teenagers saw the time without actual classes as an opportunity to hang out with friends and parks were more crowded than ever because a lot of people just wanted to enjoy the good weather. That’s why the rules are stricter now: You are only allowed to leave your house to buy groceries or go to work, and you’re not allowed to meet up with more than one other person unless you live in the same house. Restaurants and other public places also have to stay closed. You even have to wait in line to go grocery shopping because only a certain amount of people are allowed in the grocery store. To make sure everybody follows these rules, there were fines invented in some parts of Germany. You have to pay 200€ ($216) if you meet up with two or more people at the same time and going to a nursing home or hospital without a good reason will cost you just as much. Having barbecues or picnics is even more expensive. The fines for that are 250€ ($279). It would be even more expensive if you’re a restaurant or disco owner and keep it open although it’s not allowed. The fines for that are about 5,000€ ($5,405)

The shutdown because of the Coronavirus causes a lot of problems, especially for small companies. Experts estimate that there have been about 1 million job losses due to the Coronavirus. Travel is currently prohibited too. Non-Europeans can’t travel to Europe anymore and a lot of planes were sent to get European citizens that were on vacation and bring them back to their home country.

Although the restrictions annoy a lot of people, they seem to be working. Since the rules for the quarantine have been stricter, the number of new infections decreased, so hopefully an end is near.