When the Leopoldina wanted to justify in its so-called ad hoc statement on December 8th last year that it was “absolutely necessary from a scientific point of view” to “quickly and drastically reduce the number of new infections, which is still significantly too high, through a hard lockdown “, She based her argument mainly on the comparison of the numbers of new infections every day in Ireland and Germany.
According to the Leopoldina scientists, which Angela Merkel joined in the Bundestag, the rapid decline in the numbers in Ireland should prove that "quickly implemented, strict measures over a short period of time" could significantly reduce the number of new infections. The statement even went so far as to deduce from a graphic: "At the same time, the period until the new infections have decreased so far that loosening is possible."