Germany’s coronavirus lockdown ‘not responsible’ for pandemic decline, study finds
A new study from a German university found that the country’s COVID-19 infections were already falling prior to each government-mandated lockdown. Statisticians at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich analyzed the infection rates around the time of national lockdowns in Germany. The study concluded that the rate of infection was already declining when the government mandated more extreme measures in an effort to combat the spread of the virus. Protestors gather in front of the Brandenburg Gate before a demonstration against the coronavirus measures by the German Government in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020. (Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP)FACT-CHECKERS IN ‘EMBARRASSING POSITION’ AFTER LAB LEAK THEORY ABOUT-FACE: REALCLEARPOLITICSThe study focused on the number of people each infected person infected with the virus, which statisticians argue is harder to distort with fluctuating test rates, according to the Telegraph. Each time a lockdown was initiated, the data already indicated a decline in infections. This has led some anti-lockdown supporters to claim that the lockdowns had “no effect” on stopping the pandemic spread, but the study’s authors have stressed that it is not clear what effect the lockdowns might have otherwise had. CHINA PUSHES AHEAD WITH AGGRESSIVE VACCINATION EFFORT AFTER SLOW START”The measures taken could have had a
