#France's first #Covid19 case 'dates back to December', #flu retest shows #pneumonia #coronavirus[_link]

— RFI English (@RFI_En) May 4, 2020

Dr Yves Cohen, head of the emergency services ward at the Avicenne and Jean-Verdier hospitals near Paris, says he went back through the files of patients who had been admitted with flu symptoms in December 2019 and January 2020.

"Out of 14 patients, one tested positive. We tested it two more times to make sure there was no mistake. And twice, it came back positive."

Nasal swab tests, or Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAAT), using a long cotton bud inserted into the nose, can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the Covid-19 disease.

...
According to Cohen, his file showed a scanner which revealed "signs that were totally connected to Covid-19", including signs of inflammation consistent with the virus when he was hospitalised in December at Jean-Verdier Hospital in Bondy, north of Paris.

Contacted later by Cohen's staff, the patient explained that he had not travelled to any infected areas. He had been sick for two weeks and had infected his two children - but not his wife.

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`Silent spreaders': Almost a third of infected kids under 9 are asymptomatic | Times of Israel |

According to the report in the 0-9 age group, 27% of children infected with the virus show no symptoms whatsoever, raising concern among Health Ministry officials regarding the potential of that age group to spread the disease. The figure compares with 7% asymptomatic in the 20-29 age group; 4% among 50-59 year olds; and 7% in the 70-79 age group.

What Roles Do Children Play in Spreading COVID-19?

Soni says she's struck by one case report of a 6-month-old boy in Singapore. Both of his parents fell ill with COVID-19, so he was cared for at the hospital -- and his condition tracked -- for nearly 3 weeks in February.

He only had a mild fever for about an hour and no other symptoms, but the boy tested positive for COVID-19 and consistently shed high levels of the virus for 16 straight days. "On day 17, he became negative," she says, suggesting that children who do get infected may be able to spread high levels of the virus for a long time.

Related ...

A warning has been issued over increasing cases of children displaying overlapping symptoms of #COVID19 and #KawasakiDisease. Here we explain the possible link and the symptoms to look out for. [_link]

— euronews (@euronews) May 4, 2020

There is so much the experts do NOT know about SARS CoV-2 😟

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Washington state's 'stay home' order extended through May 31 -- here's the underlying data [_link]

— GeekWire (@geekwire) May 1, 2020

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A Trump administration model projects the daily US death toll from coronavirus will nearly double to 3,000 by June, the New York Times reports. [_link]

— CNN (@CNN) May 4, 2020

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Arnon Grünberg spoke eloquently tonight ... a day of remembrance the victims at the hand of fascism by German Nazis in WWII ...

Refering to right-wing parties openly spreading Xenophobia in The Netherlands ... PM Mark Rutte refusing to act in name of all citizens ...

Grünberg speaking on May 4th: "When they speak about Moroccans, they speak about me."

Een zin als een mokerslag: "Als ze het over Marokkanen hebben, dan hebben ze het over mij." De link, vervolgens, met Primo Levi extra pregnant. Wat een lezing, wat een mens: @arnonyy pic.twitter.com/9mcunoPdlg

— Oscar van Gelderen (@OscarvanG) May 4, 2020

Jacqueline Rose in LRB on counting, innocent murders, Camus, and the state

"Counting is at once a scientific endeavour and a form of magical thinking. It can be a way of bracing ourselves for and confronting an onslaught, and at the same time a doomed attempt at omnipotence, a system for classifying the horror and bundling it away. What exactly are we being told each time the latest figures are announced, rising consistently, dropping slightly, increasing again? Other than that we cannot get a grip on what is happening. We take all the measures there are to be taken, adequate and inadequate according to where and who we are. And we wait.

In Camus's novel, it is only when men start dying, as opposed to hundreds of rats, that the public begins to understand. And even then, only slowly.

Primo Levi - Biography

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A Message from President George W. Bush @TheCalltoUnite pic.twitter.com/FIn9wuOPTF

— George W. Bush Presidential Center (@TheBushCenter) May 2, 2020

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IHME lead researcher Chris Murray: "We're seeing a rise in mobility...this rise in the last week or 10 days is likely leading to some increased transmission."

My story on this from Friday. [_link]

— Sean McMinn (@shmcminn) May 4, 2020

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So suppose a WHO support project is the first to come up with a vaccine for Covid-19, but it takes months or even years to ramp up production to cover everyone at risk throughout the world. Where in the queue would you place the USA, given that it has withdrawn funding for the WHO?

Index of Frank's Diaries

A #FiveEyes intelligence dossier claims #China hid or destroyed evidence of the #COVID19 outbreak

It describes an "assault on international transparency" to the "endangerment of other countries"

Please support #Australia's inquiry into the #CCP and @WHO![_link]

— James Lee Proudfoot🎗 (@PhilosophyNook) May 3, 2020

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Amazon executive resigns over company's `chickenshit' hirings of employee activists [_link]

— The Guardian (@guardian) May 4, 2020

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Guardian front page, Tuesday 5 May 2020: Anger over plans to ease lockdown that 'risk putting workers in danger' pic.twitter.com/VX3uqYsC1S

— The Guardian (@guardian) May 4, 2020

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Very preliminary ...

A human monoclonal antibody blocking SARS-CoV-2 infection | Nature Comm |

Utrecht University, Erasmus Medical Center and Harbour BioMed Researchers Report Discovery of Antibody that Blocks Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Cells | Dutch News |

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The insistence on conditionalities based on austerity, that come with supporting the economy through the Enhanced Conditions Credit Line of the ESM, as well as the small size of the available envelope (max 2 percent of each member state's GDP)

— Alexis Tsipras (@tsipras_eu) April 10, 2020

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Αυτό που κρατάω ως κληρονομιά αυτής της κρίσης είναι το αίσθημα συλλογικής επιτυχίας. Τα πράγματα έχουν αλλάξει όσον αφορά την αυτοπεποίθησή μας και την εμπιστοσύνη - οι πολίτες εμπιστεύονται το κράτος και τους ειδικούς. Συνέντευξη στον @NicRobertsonCNN. [_link]

— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) May 4, 2020

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Leaving ally Donald Trump holding an empty bag ...

No evidence virus came from China lab, says Aussie PM | The Straits Times |

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has angered Beijing by calling for a global inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak, said yesterday he had no evidence to suggest the disease originated in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

China's Ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye said Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef, wine, tourism and universities, comments which the Australian government has called "threats of economic coercion".

Some of Australia's top business leaders are nervous that economic ties with China will become irreparably damaged.

Billionaire Kerry Stokes used the front page of his West Australian newspaper to warn against poking the country's biggest customer in the eye, while iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest called for an inquiry to be delayed until after the US presidential election.

Australia's trade with China is worth A$235 billion (S$214 billion) annually, or a third of the country's exports.

'Twiggy' Forrest's $160m China deal to bring lifesaving supplies to Australia | 9News - Apr. 1, 2020  |

How Australia ended up with 10 million more COVID-19 tests to help with the coronavirus fight

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The hornets could have arrived by way of Canada, especially since Blaine sits on the border with British Columbia ...

to whoever is playing Jumangi in 2020, please hurry up and finish your game #MurderHornets pic.twitter.com/MSMHLhOuUB

— LosApikai (@LosApikai) May 2, 2020

What is a murder hornet? Dangerous killer Asian gisnt hornets threaten beehives after invading US | Newsweek |

Beekeepers on alert after Asian hornet discovered in New Milton [_link] pic.twitter.com/m6cHA4XX3W

— New Forest Post (@new_forest_post) August 23, 2019

Asian-Americans are stocking up on guns to protect themselves during coronavirus pandemic | SCMP |

"China's unpopularity and missteps present Trump with an opportunity to recast his reelection message ... But lashing out at Beijing risks undermining Trump's China trade deal, a crown jewel of his first term." - @christinawilkie [_link]

— Christine Wang (@christiiineeee) April 26, 2020

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The Chaotic Triumph of Arron Banks, the "Bad Boy of Brexit" | The New Yorker - March 2019 |

His UK is turning into a Socialist State 😠

A very bad bout of flu is being turned into an economic depression by government policy. We will recover but the cure will be big government & huge doses of socialism. [_link]

— Arron Banks (@Arron_banks) May 4, 2020

Sorry it's a killer virus that kills virtually nobody under the age of 45. The reasonably strategy would have been social distancing and protect those in the danger zone & let it burn itself out in the general population. Instead we stretching the crisis out .. [_link]

— Arron Banks (@Arron_banks) May 3, 2020

"Do we really want to be the kind of society where basic freedoms are conditional on the decisions of politicians in thrall to scientists and statisticians?"

Robust arguments from Lord Sumption for the Mail on Sunday. Essential reading.[_link]

— Steve Baker MP (@SteveBakerHW) May 3, 2020

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COVID-19 has killed over 32,000 people in the UK, more than any other country in Europe. [_link]

— DW News (@dwnews) May 5, 2020

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Saudi Arabia's central  bank committed to riyal - US dollar peg | Arab News |

The big Oil Deal with OPEC Plus is done. This will save hundreds of thousands of energy jobs in the United States. I would like to thank and congratulate President Putin of Russia and King Salman of Saudi Arabia. I just spoke to them from the Oval Office. Great deal for all!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2020

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia threatens to ditch dollar oil trades to stop 'NOPEC' - sources | Reuters - April 2019 |

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Strikeforce incursion into Venezuela. 60 Venezuelan, 2 American ex Green Beret @realDonaldTrump

— Silvercorp USA (@SilvercorpUsa) May 4, 2020

CAPTURED: U.S. mercenaries Luke Alexander Denman and Aaron Barry are in custody of the Venezuelan government. The two Silvercorp terrorists claim work security for President Trump. pic.twitter.com/jc7vwmjuTB

— Camila (@camilateleSUR) May 5, 2020

BREAKING: Sky News understands that Professor Neil Ferguson, from the government's scientific advisory group SAGE, has stepped down after he reportedly broke #COVID19 lockdown rules.

More on this story here: [_link] pic.twitter.com/1Liv5WSoE4

— SkyNews (@SkyNews) May 5, 2020

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Pfizer, BioNTech dose first U.S. patients in Covid-19 vaccine trial | MedCity |

The Phase I/II study dosed its first cohort in Germany last week. The trial is enrolling 7,600 participants who will be randomized to receive one of four vaccine candidates or placebo.

...
The trial is designed to determine safety, immunogenicity and optimal dose of four vaccine candidates. The study, of which BioNTech is the main sponsor, is enrolling 7,600 participants and randomizing them to receive one of four vaccine candidates - BNT162a1, BNT162b1, BNT162b2 and BNT162c2 - or placebo. The companies said the two medical schools are dosing participants, though the ClinicalTrials.gov page for the study, last updated Tuesday, still listed NYU Langone Health as not yet recruiting as of midday, while two other University of Maryland sites were also listed as not yet recruiting. The announcement stated that two additional sites not listed on the trial page - the University of Rochester in upstate New York and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center - would begin enrollment shortly.

My earlier post ...

Global Reach Partnership Pfizer and German BioNTech

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Volgens The Economist is het niet #SiliconValley, #Shenzhen of #Seattle waar het gebeurt, maar #Eindhoven: daar is #ASML gevestigd en alle grote #tech firms zijn afhankelijk van deze NL producent van chipmaking machines.
Must-read artikel👇@TheEconomist [_link]

— Martijn van Dalen (@MGvanDalen) March 3, 2020

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Covid Created Collateral China Crisis [_link] #Asml #China #Covid #Euv #Huawei #Kla #RobertMaire #Tsmc

— SemiWiki.com (@DanielNenni) May 3, 2020

Covid Created Collateral China Crisis

China relationship damage will far outlast direct Covid19 logistics impact. Economic damage could be huge but trade damage could be larger with more specific impact on chips.

A long build up to a China trade nuclear winter, the "drum-beat of war"
When we started talking about a potential chip trade embargo with China 3 years ago we were roundly criticized and laughed at....not so any more as the specter of a full blown, tech led, trade war with China seems to get larger by the day.

Several months ago the heat got turned up again. On Monday the Commerce department issued three new rules that will effectively pave the way for technology exports to China and exports to companies doing business with China (read that as TSMC) to be more easily restricted.

• Elimination of License Exception
• Expansion of controls for Military Use
• Modification of License Exception

This feels an awful lot like tanks are massing on the border and warships are moving into position. The direction and intention of moves made over the last several months are very, very clear. It seems with all this planning and build up that implementation is all but inevitable.

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Inflation collapses around the world amid coronavirus pandemic [_link]

— Richard Partington (@RJPartington) May 5, 2020

○ Use of public transport could be discouraged as lockdown ends - IFS

Nearly a quarter of British employees furloughed in last fortnight [_link]

— Richard Partington (@RJPartington) May 4, 2020

○ Rishi Sunak preparing to wind down coronavirus furlough scheme from July

Related reading ...

○ Viral recessions: Lack of demand during the coronavirus crisis

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Coronavirus restrictions to ease next week; country to slowly open up over summer

Coronavirus restrictions to ease through spring and summer; Testing widely available | NL Times |

The Dutch government announced plans to begin reopening the Netherlands, starting on May 11 with the opening of some close contact professions, and the gradual easing of restrictions will follow throughout the summer. If all goes well, by September 1, the government hopes to begin allowing events with large audiences, including festivals, concerts, and professional football matches.

Fitness centers, saunas, sports club canteens, and casinos may all be able to begin again, as well as contact sports and indoor sports. The government also said sex workers would likely be allowed to start work again in September, and confirmed earlier reports that masks would be required on public transportation.

The plans were simultaneously announced in a statement from the government, and by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge during a press conference on Wednesday. The press conference followed a meeting of the Cabinet's Outbreak Management Team (OMT), which was set to advise the government on the state of the pandemic in the Netherlands, and the measures in place to slow the spread of the virus.

In order to get to that point, more access to testing will be needed. According to De Jonge, any person showing symptoms of Covid-19 will be able to request a test for coronavirus from June 1, directing people to the government website to find out more. If found to be positive, patients will then be required to wait out in home quarantine ¹ for a period of two weeks, during which time the regional branch of health service GGD will investigate with which people the patient had been having contact.  

¹ Not the intelligent approach as this has been advised from the start, not to go to your GP or hospital until one gets serious issues with fever, breathing and lungs. Hopefully a medicine such as remdesivir can be prescribed before ICU risk.

○ Dutch coronavirus deaths decline again, 36 new deaths reported | Dutch News |

○ Current numbers COVID-19: 6 May 2020 | RIVM |

○ Netherlands will open primary schools in May; Other lockdown measures continue | NL Times - Apr. 21, 2020 |

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The 1918 influenza pandemic likely helped the Nazis gain power in "crucial" German elections, according to new research. [_link]

— CNBC (@CNBC) May 6, 2020

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Coronavirus US live: Trump shelves CDC's reopening guidelines for being too cautious [_link]

— The Guardian (@guardian) May 7, 2020

Trump administration shelves CDC guide to reopening the country | LA Times |

Trump's gut feeling ... he now owns the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

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NEW: We reviewed footage of Kayleigh McEnany from CNN in summer 2015.

She called comments from Trump "racist," and "hateful" and "not the American way." Calling him a "showman" and "not a serious candidate." Adding, "I don't want to claim this guy."[_link]

— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) May 7, 2020

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Churchill led Europe against Nazi Germany in WWII ...

America's Trump leads himself to defeat against an invisible intruder from China ...

The Pacific War ended with two atom bombs over Japan ...

Churchill, God and the Bomb

Although brought up in the Anglican tradition, by his early twenties Churchill was expressing views which, if not atheistic, were in conflict with the doctrinal tenets of Christianity. As a subaltern in India in 1897-98, he wrote to his mother of his hopes for a future in which 'science and reason' triumphed over religious superstition. If he fell in battle, he advised her to seek out `the consolations of philosophy' and added, apparently conclusively, that 'I do not accept the Christian or any other form of religious belief'.

In the upheaval of British politics, the Churchill government faced defeat as the Big Three met in Potsdam in July 1945. New PM Attlee came to Potsdam and replaced Churchill ...

The Potsdam Conference, 1945

In te early years as NATO was establushed, under British leadership, the focus to prevent a German resurgence was adjusted to fight Communism and the Soviet Union. The new US weapon not only split the atom, but also the Allied Forces united in defeat of Fascism.

Key words WWII peace talks | Crimea | Tehran | Stalingrad turning point in War |

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○ Fact-checking Judy Mikovits, the controversial virologist attacking Anthony Fauci in a viral conspiracy video

○ Debunking 'Plandemic' -- ZDoggMD reacts to "crazy" viral video

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The pandemic has magnified the financial insecurity of too many American families, the deep and real racial disparities in our society - and the imbalanced burdens on working moms. We have to create something better for America on the other side of this. [_link]

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 27, 2020

'Chaotic disaster': Obama hits Trump's coronavirus response, warns of disinformation ahead of election | NBC News |

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Trump is culpable in deaths of Americans, says Noam Chomsky [_link]

— The Guardian (@guardian) May 10, 2020

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'Arbeit Macht Frei': Nazi Slogans Show Up at Illinois Rally Protesting Coronavirus Lockdown | Haaretz |

The use of an infamous Nazi slogan featured on the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in an Illinois protest against coronavirus pandemic shutdowns, along with other Nazi imagery, has sparked widespread condemnation.  

An Illinois resident protests #COVID restrictions w/ the 3 words at #Auschwitz entrance--Arbeit Macht Frei.

Those words--Work Sets You Free--were a savage Nazi hoax for slave labor & gas chambers.

JB in the sign refers to state's Jewish governor.

Shameful. Shocking. Sickening. pic.twitter.com/TnDQFFYJHD

— David Harris (@DavidHarrisAJC) May 2, 2020

"Arbeit Macht Frei," a German phrase meaning "work sets you free", was famously featured atop the iron gates at the entrance of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as well as other Nazi concentration camps.

"Arbeit macht frei" was a false, cynical illusion the SS gave to prisoners of the #Auschwitz camp. Those words became one of the icons of human hatred. It's painful to see this symbol instrumentalized.and abused. It's a symptom of moral & intellectual degeneration.

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) February 4, 2020

Another protester was photographed with a sign featuring a swastika and the words "Heil Pritzker" in reference to Governor Pritzker, who is Jewish.

Thousends of citizens protest against the lockdown in Michigan that is hit by #coronavirus. Some are heavily armed and shout `Heil Witmer' against governor Gretchen Whitmer.
All you see happening now in USA is more polarization. Freedom has a price. #Covid_19 #lockdown pic.twitter.com/VsenRwitdO

— Ruud Spaargaren (@RuudSpaargaren) April 16, 2020

Eichmann's Men by Hans Safrian

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This never ages. "Stories of when things go wrong. Really wrong. When you leave the normal realm of human error, fumble, mishap, and mistake and enter the territory of really huge breakdowns. Fiascos:" [_link] Thanks @iraglass!

— Peter Lloyd Jones (@studioscientist) May 9, 2020

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Anti-lockdown efforts during Spanish flu offer a cautionary tale for coronavirus | NBC News |

An estimated 650,000 Americans lost their lives to the infamous and tragic 1918-1919 influenza epidemic, a small but significant fraction of the approximately 50 million deaths the disease caused worldwide. Countless more were left without parents, children, friends, and loved ones. Communities across the country did what they could to stem the rising tide of illness and death, closing their schools, churches, theaters, shops and saloons. Doctors, nurses, and volunteers gave their time - and, occasionally, their lives - to care for the ill.

2020 Economic High Tide after decades of Globalization

Trump claims Germany and Japan are "following us" in their coronavirus responses. No chance.

"All of them, not everyone would want to admit it, but they all view us as the world leader, and they're following us" -- Trump claims that the US coronavirus response is the toast of world leaders (the US has well over 2 times more deaths than the second hardest-hit country) pic.twitter.com/3bW3Olt8Qj

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 8, 2020

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Video of my high school soccer coach Harry Keough.

Key words | Corona lockdown | Football History | Archives |

United States v England 1-0

Scottish footballer Ed McIlvenny was named captain for the US Squad as he was British. Although he was not a US citizen, he had declared his intention of becoming one and thus was eligible to play, according to the rules of the United States Soccer Football Association at the time.

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.@weijia: "How do you respond to criticism that you're motivated by politics to try to grow economy ahead of the election?"
POTUS: "...People want to go back. Numbers are getting to a point where they can. There seems to be no effort on certain blue states to get back into gear." pic.twitter.com/iENjdmCbna

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 11, 2020

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After @weijia asks President Trump why he sees the pandemic response as a "global competition," he tells her: "Maybe that's a question you should ask China. Don't ask me, ask China that question, okay?" [_link] pic.twitter.com/aDQ5cwWvn0

— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 11, 2020

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Opinion | Filipe Campante, Claudio Ferraz and Rodrigo Soares: "Bluster and aggressive rhetoric can only take you so far... but chances are that you cannot fake your way out of a mishandled pandemic and an economic disaster." - @NBCNewsTHINK [_link]

— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 15, 2020

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