march 2020 (Covid1984)

2020:

January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December

This is in chronological order as opposed to reversed chronological order. They were originally put up in the comments boxes below the first version of this.

It should be clear that I am not  in accord with the ideological aspects of the content of many of the articles I link to.

 

  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/01/the-worst-case-scenario-for-coronavirus-dr-jonathan-quick-q-and-a-laura-spinney

    X writes:

    The episode at Costco [SF note: mad panic buying in the States, supermarkets’ shelves emptied…] in the foreground and the Chinese response in the background and the Trump response overhead…makes me think of a parodic revisitation of the situationist divison of spectatular labor wherein the “concentrated spectacle” of the PRC has a region-wide lockdown, replete with hi-tech surveillance and goons everywhere, spreading rapidly to every metropole in the country… while the “diffuse spectacle” of the Americans consists of Trump bullshitting the public, soothing (or trying rather ineffectually to soothe) the markets, while putting God-talker Pence, who already killed a bunch of people when he was governor of Indiana during the AIDS crisis, on the front line. The Democrats will, as always, provide a Greek chorus of moaning complaints while ineffectually wringing their hands.

    You have to say that the old “more sophisticated” diffuse spectacle of the flagship of the formerly “advanced” West is looking a bit moth-eaten compared to its bureaucratic-capitalist rival, but it still may be more cost-effective in lining the right pockets while keeping the population scared and confused. Contrasting this to the seething anger of all the Chinese under house-arrest across the PRC, one sees the immobilization of the American public is achieved with far less exertion and cost, while doing no more damage to the legitimacy of the regime than the tech-intensive Chinese method.

    Of course there’s just a small possibility that as things develop, all of this could go terribly wrong…

  • Facemasks:

    “As of Wednesday afternoon, Amazon had largely sold out of different mask varieties. Keepa, which tracks the prices of items sold on Amazon, shows that a 10-pack of 3M N95 respirators that sold for $18.20 roughly a month ago now costs $99.99. And one Amazon seller is offering a 30-pack of 3M N95 respirators for $198.98. On eBay, a two-pack of 3M N95 face masks is available for $59.99. Other retailers typically sell a pair of masks for less than $6, but are currently out of stock. One Amazon customer told CBS MoneyWatch they bought 100 3M N95 respirator masks this week for $10 each, spending a total of $1,000 — an indication of the growing consumer anxiety about the risks of contracting the coronavirus in the U.S.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-coronavirus-face-mask-price-gouging-shortages/

    “Doctors say that there is little evidence that masks protect wearers from infection. Instead they recommend that people wash their hands regularly, clean work surfaces and door handles, and try to avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth.”https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/01/coronavirus-outbreak-the-key-scientific-questions-answered

  • China censors report of how authorities hid COVID-19 genome sequence test result for 14 days:

    https://globalvoices.org/2020/03/02/china-censors-report-of-how-authorities-hid-covid-19-genome-sequence-test-result-for-14-days/

    “Upon testing, a lab in Guangzhou found out that the genome sequence of the new virus was 87 percent similar to Bat SARS-like coronavirus. The lab shared the results with the China Institute of Pathogen Biology and Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on 27 of December. However, the National Health Commission issued a new regulation banning all the labs from sharing and releasing their test results in early January.

    China only allowed the release of the genome sequence of COVID-19 to the World Health Authority (WHO) on 11 January, two weeks after they got hold of the result.

    So, to sum up previous posts, the chronology of events is this:

    Lab finds the new virus – 27/12/19

    State begins censorship of information – 31/12/19 – https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/china-censored-covid-19-news-for-weeks-say-researchers-12496370?utm_source=HRIC+Updates&utm_campaign=cadf25a7da-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_04_11_54_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b537d30fde-cadf25a7da-259227109

    Xi Jinping admits privately the severity of the virus – 7/1/20 –
    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/xi-early

    WHO informed – 11/1/20

    Xi makes clear request that Hubei province implement comprehensive and stringent controls over the outflow of people.” – 22/1/20

    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/xi-early

    Xi warns officials that efforts to stop virus could hurt economy: – early February

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-xi-economy/xi-warned-officials-that-efforts-to-stop-virus-could-hurt-economy-sources-idUSKBN2050JL?utm_source=HRIC+Updates&utm_campaign=6f32792de0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_04_11_54_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b537d30fde-6f32792de0-259227109

  • New York Times comment on state attitudes towards viruses, past and present:

    https://cn.nytimes.com/opinion/20200302/coronavirus-quarantine/dual/

  • Hong Kong Has Contained Coronavirus So Far — But At A Significant Cost –

    “As the U.S. and much of the world deals with the arrival of COVID-19, one place that’s managed to limit the spread of the disease is Hong Kong. Hong Kong sits right up against China’s Guangdong Province, which has had more than 1,300 cases, the second largest number on the mainland after Hubei. But Hong Kong has seen fewer than 100 cases since the outbreak began, and so far its strategies to contain the coronavirus have prevented large-scale outbreaks that have happened in countries like Iran, Italy and South Korea. The suppression of the disease in Hong Kong, however, has come at a steep cost to the city. Schools are closed. Many businesses are shuttered. All train, bus and ferry service to mainland China is suspended, and the border with China is essentially shut down.”

    https://hrichina.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=be71fffd3e2fea33689a7d0d8&id=1842a5f5fe&e=ab66737dda

  • Intensified social control UK-style:

    Those with flu or cold could be asked to self-isolate, UK government says

    “Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said that the step would be necessary in a new phase where “we will be having to ask members of the general public to do different things than they would normally do”. Whitty said that would mean “a situation where we say everybody who has even minor respiratory tract infections or a fever should be self-isolating for seven days afterwards”.
    The new measures were set out as Boris Johnson called for a “national effort” to tackle the virus, insisting that the experts “know how to defeat it”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/09/matt-hancock-under-fire-from-mps-over-uk-coronavirus-response

  • 9/3/20:
    Italy: riots in at least 24 “lock-ups” against Coronavirus-related visitor restrictions

    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/prisoners-in-italy-riot-amid-virus-containment-6-die-in-overdose

  • “Mr.Bean” does English language propaganda for the Chinese state:
    https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6139644744001

  • From a friend:

    Israel and the virus:

    “Israelis returning to the country from overseas are now required to self-quarantine for 14 days from the time of their arrival.

    In addition, anyone who returned from over a dozen countries listed on the Health Ministry’s website must retroactively self-quarantine for 14 days from the date of their return, as must anyone who returned from an international conference overseas, even if it wasn’t in a flagged country.”
    [https://www.timesofisrael.com/coronavirus-in-israel-all-you-need-to-know/]

    ***

    “The government announced an emergency package of more than NIS 10 billion ($2.8 billion) Wednesday, as it sought to stabilize the economy and offset some damage caused by the coronavirus crisis.

    Some NIS 8 billion ($2.2 billion) will be dispersed to businesses, NIS 1 billion ($281 million) to the health system, NIS 1 billion to stem the spread of the virus and an unspecified amount would go to the aviation industry, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.”
    https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-announces-2-8-billion-rescue-package-for-companies-battered-by-virus/

    ***

    “We’re asking, if there is no need for conferences, if there is no need for events, don’t hold them and don’t go to them,” Netanyahu said during a press conference at his office.

    He said exceptions would be made for security, health and public needs, while urging Israelis to make “behavioral changes” and change their “day-to-day routines.”

    “We like to hug, shake hands, kiss — don’t do it,” he said. “Wash your hands. Maintain good personal hygiene.” … The quarantine measures are among the most dramatic to be introduced by any nation in the intensifying battle against the coronavirus. On February 26, Israel had become the first country in the world to advise its citizens against all non-essential overseas travel.
    [https://www.timesofisrael.com/stepping-up-virus-fight-israel-bans-gatherings-of-100-people-in-closed-areas/]

    ***

    On being an ethnic Chinese in Israel during these days:

    https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-israelis-saw-when-they-saw-me-chinese-dangerous/

  • Crimethinc translation from Italy:

    https://de.crimethinc.com/2020/03/12/against-the-coronavirus-and-the-opportunism-of-the-state-anarchists-in-italy-report-on-the-spread-of-the-virus-and-the-quarantine

    “Let’s be clear: though Trump and other nationalists worldwide intend to use this opportunity to impose new controls on our movements, this pandemic is not a consequence of globalization. Pandemics have always been global. The bubonic plague spread worldwide several hundred years ago. In introducing a ban on travel from Europe while continuing to try to preserve the health of the United States economy—rather than directing resources towards preserving the health of human beings within the US—Trump is giving us an explicit lesson in the ways that capitalism is fundamentally hazardous to our health.”

  • Soap most effective way to protect yourself:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/12/science-soap-kills-coronavirus-alcohol-based-disinfectants

    But also infusions of thyme, rosemary, sage, ginger and turmeric (use honey to make this palatable).

  • Good news at last! –
    Bolsonaro tests positive –

    https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-president-coronavirus-test-positive-2020-3

    Added later: sadly, turns out to be untrue.

  • Greta Thunberg demands submission to the experts:
    “Greta Thunberg has urged fellow climate campaigners to avoid mass protests and listen to local authorities….”We can’t solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis and we must unite behind experts and science. This of course goes for all crises.”

    https://www.dw.com/en/greta-thunberg-calls-for-digital-strikes-amid-coronavirus-fears/a-52732530

  • Article on how internet article on Dr Li Wenliang, the whilstleblower doctor who first alerted the Chinese state of the virus and was arrested for spreading false rumours was censored and how people have constantly and persistently found temporary ways round the censorship –

    https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-51831652?utm_source=HRIC+Updates&utm_campaign=6e1f645710-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_04_11_54_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b537d30fde-6e1f645710-259227109

    (article in Chinese, but Google Translate gives a fair w=enough idea about what it’s all about.)

  • Residents of Hubei community defy lockdown to protest against overpriced food :

    https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3075213/coronavirus-residents-hubei-community-defy-lockdown-protest

    “After weeks of quietly accepting a government-enforced lockdown, the patience of some residents of a Chinese city close to the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak
    finally ran out on Thursday, as they gathered to protest against the high prices they say they are being forced to pay for their groceries. For the past several weeks, the supply of food to the tens of millions of people forced to live in isolation across Hubei province has been carefully controlled by local government agencies. But many residents of Yingcheng, a city of 600,000 people about an hour’s drive from Wuhan, considered the goods on offer to be overpriced. So when a man was detained by the police for providing the same products at lower prices, they decided enough was enough. …
    Defying the terms of the lockdown, hundreds of residents gathered on a basketball court …to vent their anger. They dispersed only after local government officials and police arrived at the scene. The demonstration was sparked by the detention of a Sea Mountain resident surnamed Cheng, who used his personal connections to supply his neighbours with groceries”…He was detained on the charge of “unlicensed sales” but released after about an hour…Another resident, identified only as Zhou, said people were fed up at having to pay inflated prices for food and other essential items. The situation had been going on for over a month, she said, adding that some of the vegetables provided through the official channels were old and no longer edible. “We were so angry that we’d been deprived of choice, of access to cheaper and better products,” she said….”

  • In France Macronavirus is spreading (he’s closed the schools, universities, everything but major production and offices, supermarkets, town halls, prefectures or police stations – everything but fundamental state institutions and things necessary for the economy), there’s also a healthy disregard for avoiding kissing and handshakes. They stopped entrance to football stadiums but filmed the games without crowds. Outside thousands watched on their mobile phones and hugged and kissed when a goal was scored for their side. Some people have developed conspiracy theories that – although at best pointless – are at least seen in terms of the growth of struggles throughout the world (as a method of suppressing them, of course). It might take a bit more than the so far 79 deaths in France to beat down the healthy skepticism that – at least within my experience – still prevails.

    Inevitably with this incessant propaganda many people (including myself) get a little worried with each cough or twinge or slight ache, and I’ve started drinking an infusion of thyme, rosemary, sage, ginger and turmeric each day – something I do anyway when I feel I’m getting the flu.

    And quite a few low-cost supermarkets are running out of stock. How long before we’re given ration cards and told to put up blackout curtains on our windows I don’t know. The comparison with a war that you can see by my attempt at a joke doesn’t go very far. They’re aiming at something far worse – an isolation that never existed during war time. And isolation and anxiety weakens resistance to illness.
    Macron appeared on telly and claimed it was due to globalisation – ironic since he’s a fundamental part of it. Probably a bit of demagogy aimed at boosting his party’s lamentable chances in
    the local elections throughout France today. None of it has much logic even within its own terms – touch money or door handles and you’re potentially touching a million microbes from other people….

    It’ll soon be like this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdf5EXo6I68

  • Apparently in 1969-70, an especially virulent flu gripped France, killing 31,226 people in just 2 months:

    https://www.liberation.fr/grand-angle/2005/12/07/1968-la-planete-grippee_540957

    Globally, this flu killed a million or so. In 1957 Asian flu killed 2 million globally.

    This is the first time I’ve heard about this ’69-’70 epidemic and nobody I know or have known in France have ever mentioned it. The incessant invasion by the spectacle today is such that just a few deaths (so far, globally, 0.6% of the amount of deaths in 69-70) and they close down the world.

  • TR says:

    Regarding the comparison with war and the similar mentality that is imposed by the authorities, I’ve just seen this post by a friend on Facebook who shared a kind of reproving meme that says “Your grandparents were called to war. You are being called to sit on a couch! You can do this!”

  • Some relatively good news:

    https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2020-03-14/homeless-moms-occupy-house-los-angeles-caltrans-coronavirus-pandemic

    “Weeks after a group of homeless mothers took over a vacant house in Oakland and managed to keep it, another group of moms is trying to do the same in Los Angeles.
    On Saturday morning, the protesters and their families moved into a two-bedroom bungalow in El Sereno. They say they plan to remain indefinitely and potentially take over more houses.
    They are calling on state and local governments to use all publicly owned vacant homes, libraries, recreation centers and other properties to house people immediately. They say the the region’s extreme lack of affordable housing and the threat of the novel coronavirus pushed them to act….
    Escudero, who works two days a week as an elderly caregiver, said the mothers in Oakland inspired her to occupy the vacant home on Saturday morning. She said the protesters are trying to push the state and city to take care of homeless residents and those without stable housing, especially given the new risks associated with the spread of COVID-19.
    “With the coronavirus, they want us to be quarantined in our homes, but some of us don’t have homes,” she said.
    In speaking to supporters, the protesters, who call themselves Reclaiming Our Homes, said they understood what they were doing is illegal, but the more significant issue was that homes were left vacant while people in the community were homeless.
    “They say it’s a crime to come and occupy these houses,” Benito Flores said. “But this is not a crime. This is justice.”

  • Siddiq Khan says:

    In the NY times article you reference, the author notes that mortality rates of corona are similar to those of Spanish influenza, the deadliest pandemic in history. “The most deadly pandemic in history was the Spanish flu of 1918. The virus infected an estimated one-third of the world’s population and was responsible for causing between 20 million and 50 million deaths — that’s an estimated 1% to 3% mortality rate.” Corona is 1 to 2%. And they estimate it will infect two-thirds of the population before a vaccine is developed. Pretty bleak. So, maybe the response is more warranted than one might at first suppose, rather than merely an exercise in social control.

    • But where do they get these estimates from? On what evidence, given that the death rate in China is slowing down?

      Israeli virologist urges world leaders to calm public, slams ‘unnecessary panic’: “‘People think this virus is going to attack them all, and then they’re all going to die,’ says Prof. Jihad Bishara. ‘Not at all. In fact, most of those infected won’t even know it’…“I’ve been in this business for 30 years,” Bishara said in a Channel 12 interview. “I’ve been through MERS, SARS, Ebola, the first Gulf war and the second, and I don’t recall anything like this. There’s unnecessary, exaggerated panic. We have to calm people down.

      “People are thinking that there’s a kind of virus, it’s in the air, it’s going to attack every one of us, and whoever is attacked is going to die,” he said.

      “That’s not the way it is at all. It’s not in the air. Not everyone [who is infected] dies; most of them will get better and won’t even know they were sick, or will have a bit of mucus.”

      But in Israel and around the world, “everybody is whipping everybody else up into panic — the leaders, via the media, and the wider public — who then in turn start to stress out the leaders. We’ve entered some kind of vicious cycle.” “

      https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-virologist-urges-world-leaders-to-calm-public-slams-unnecessary-panic/

  • Some more interesting links:

    https://www.lalibre.be/regions/bruxelles/coronavirus-bruxelles-se-soumettra-aux-mesures-nationales-la-police-pourra-user-de-la-force-publique-pour-les-faire-respecter-5e6b1c119978e201d8b55739

    https://twitter.com/pequenos213/status/1238853655773827073

    https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-fuels-trumps-autocratic-instincts

    http://autonomies.org/2020/03/the-ecology-of-a-virus/

    https://www.lalibre.be/regions/bruxelles/coronavirus-bruxelles-se-soumettra-aux-mesures-nationales-la-police-pourra-user-de-la-force-publique-pour-les-faire-respecter-5e6b1c119978e201d8b55739

    – Earlier, the mayor of Turnhout said he was writing to the mayors of Tilburg, Breda and Eindhoven in the southern part of the Netherlands to ask them to bring their own rules into line with Belgium’s, in order to prevent what he called “horeca-tourism”.

    https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/belgium-all-news/100458/cross-border-shopping-and-dining-described-as-antisocial-behaviour-sluis-knokke-luxembourg-coronavirus/

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/government-okays-mass-surveillance-of-israelis-phones-to-curb-coronavirus/

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/video-shows-man-in-tel-aviv-being-arrested-for-violating-quarantine/

    “Those who knowingly violate the quarantine could be sentenced to seven years in prison, while those who do so out of negligence could get a three-year sentence. “

  • http://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-nhs-doctor-warns-we-are-already-at-breaking-point-11958542

    https://murciatoday.com/heavy-fines-for-people-disobeying-curfew_like-restrictions-on-movement_1356855-a.html

    From someone I know in Spain: “it feels like the whole world in an instant has become institutionalised and the people have become willing and in some cases, eager participants. Round here they all seem to want to be prefects. Under normal circumstances, there would be groups wanting to organise, to resist the constraints being imposed on them but against the threat and fear of infection, no collective action is possible. And of course, if they did, the people caught up in the mass hysteria would turn against them anyway seeing them as a threat to life. It’s a double, treble bind.”

  • https://www.sante-corps-esprit.com/urgent-coronavirus-le-geste-a-ne-surtout-pas-faire/?fbclid=IwAR3_L43UNEng0bcdSG3F0y_b9OhEVi0wTmP32G7lyVI8uHZL9v8vSRvt2so#.Xm51Ae0I9Pw.facebook

    Added 18/3:
    I should emphasise that his congratulations to China and its social controls are no way something I agree with at all. Besides, it may well be that it has not been the social controls that has reduced the fatalities in China but the use of an anti-malaria antiviral called Chloroquine. Check out the post below for March 18, 8.19 am: http://dialectical-delinquents.com/coronavirus-an-exercise-in-intensified-social-control/#comment-312696

    Rough, though pretty good, Google Translate translation (it’d take too long to translate properly):
    “CORONAVIRUS EMERGENCY: the gesture you should NOT do
    March 15, 2020/130

    The Minister of Health Olivier Véran said on Saturday:

    “Taking anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, cortisone, etc.) could be a factor in worsening the infection”

    He is right: in case of fever, do not take anti-inflammatory drugs like:

    Ibuprofen (Advil, Nurofen …)
    Diclofenac (Voltarene)
    Aspirin

    But there is another drug to avoid at all costs.

    It’s paracetamol (Doliprane, Dafalgan, Efferalgan…).

    Certainly, the Minister of Health said exactly the opposite.

    Here is the entire statement:

    “Taking anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, cortisone, etc.) could be a factor in worsening the infection.

    If you have a fever, take paracetamol. ”

    But I say it loud and clear: this declaration is irresponsible.

    Several doctors called me this weekend to ask me to tell you the truth.

    They dare not do it themselves, for fear of being punished.

    Today, I am sending you perhaps the most important letter I have ever written to you.

    It could help save lives and curb the epidemic.

    When you have read it to the end, I ask you to transfer it to all your contacts.

    Because this letter contains common sense advice that we do not tell you about…

    … like avoiding lowering the fever at all costs:
    Lowering the fever is MADNESS

    It’s been 50 years since the French Nobel Prize in Medicine André Lwoff has demonstrated this [1]

    “Enlightened” doctors have been telling their patients for decades.

    It’s been 4 years since the French National Authority for Health recognized it, with lip service [2].

    It’s been two years since one of the world’s leading virus specialists publicly proclaimed it. [3]

    Artificially lowering a fever with medication is DANGEROUS.

    It’s almost always a bad idea, no matter what the infection.

    But against the Chinese coronavirus, this can have catastrophic consequences.

    I remind you that this virus is starting to infect your nose and your throat.

    And if the virus stays there, you don’t risk anything.

    On the cruise ship Diamond Princess, almost half of the passengers who tested positive for coronavirus did not even notice that they had an infection!

    And among the others, those who “felt it pass”, the majority only felt a bad cold.

    The problems start when the virus reaches your lungs.

    Your priority is therefore to do everything to avoid it, when you have a cough or fever.

    There are simple gestures, which the authorities do not tell you about and which can help you (I will detail them below).

    But if there is one thing that should not be done, it is to lower the fever with a medicine.

    Because fever is your first line of defense against the spread of the virus in your lungs.

    Listen to Professor Paul Offit, head of the Infectious Diseases Division at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania:

    “Many studies in recent years have shown that taking drugs to lower fever affects the body’s ability to overcome illness.” [4]

    In France, the Haute Autorité de Santé said exactly the same thing:

    “Fever can have a beneficial effect in severe invasive infections and serious non-febrile infections (without fever) have been linked to increased mortality.

    In addition, some publications indicate that the use of antipyretics (drugs that lower fever) could delay the healing of certain viral infections “[5]

    I explained to you why in detail in my letter “When are we going to stop bringing down the fever”, sent on October 30, 2019 [6].

    To summarize, remember that:

    Viruses do not resist high temperatures: it is to kill viruses that your body heat increases with fever!
    At high temperatures, our immune system works better – especially the specialized immune cells to kill viruses and bacteria!

    And if you are not yet fully convinced, know that recent studies have shown that anti-fever drugs:

    prolong flu symptoms [7];
    delay resolution of chickenpox symptoms [8]
    and prolong the duration of colds (rhinovirus) and worsen symptoms [9].

    Faced with the coronavirus, it is therefore OBVIOUS that we must avoid lowering the fever.

    Anti-inflammatory drugs (Ibuprofen…) must therefore be avoided at all costs, of course…

    … But also paracetamol (Doliprane…)

    But, you will tell me, if it is so obvious, why the authorities do not tell you?

    And why does the Minister of Health tell you exactly the opposite ???

    For the same reason, alas, as that which leads our authorities to:

    avoid recommending you to take vitamin D and other scientifically proven natural remedies for viral respiratory infections such as coronavirus (I will detail them later);
    refuse to recommend medical treatments that have been proven in China and South Korea (injections of vitamin C / hydroxychloroquine + zinc);
    and hide the reason why hypertensive people are also severely affected by the coronavirus (answer: some anti-hypertension drugs worsen the infection).

    The reason is that our medical system is all about money and prestige.

    The pharmaceutical industry has nothing to gain from prescribing natural remedies (or old drugs) … and a lot of money to lose if you stop taking certain drugs.

    And our “great teachers of medicine” take no prestige in advising you what enlightened doctors, homeopaths and competent naturopaths have been telling you for years.

    As Professor Raoult ironically says, with old remedies like chloroquine “we are cutting the grass under the feet of many people who dreamed of winning the Nobel Prize for finding a new drug or a new vaccine” [10].

    That is why you cannot expect our authorities to tell you the whole truth in the face of the current crisis.

    And this is why I am writing this letter to you: to tell you, independently, what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones from coronavirus.

    You will find below a “natural protocol”, simple to set up, effective, without risk and scientifically supported.

    But I would like to say a word more about anti-fever drugs:
    Why anti-inflammatory (and anti-hypertension) drugs are so dangerous

    So anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen fail to break the fever, which deprives you of an effective line of defense against the virus.

    But they also have another disastrous effect, specific to the Chinese coronavirus.

    This explains why at least four young people are currently in intensive care, in Toulouse, simply because they had the misfortune to take ibuprofen!

    Here is what is happening.

    The coronavirus multiplies in the lungs by attaching to a receptor called “angiotensin 2 converting enzyme” or ACE2.

    As one reporter put it, “If you look at the human body as a house and the coronavirus as a thief, then the enzyme ACE2 is the doorknob through which the intruder will enter” [11].

    However, several substances increase the number of ACE2 receptors … and could therefore facilitate the entry of the virus:

    This is clearly the case with ibuprofen – hence the statement by our Minister of Health;
    But also certain antihypertensive drugs called “converting enzyme inhibitors” (ACE inhibitors) and angiotensin II receptor antagonists “(sartans) [12].

    Note that these anti-hypertension drugs are sometimes also used in the treatment of diabetes.

    And coincidentally, the two most common diseases associated with a bad reaction to the coronavirus are:

    Hypertension
    And diabetes

    Which is very unusual for a respiratory infection!

    The reason, most likely, is that the drugs are making the situation worse!

    So I advise you to consult your doctor now if you are taking these medicines – there are alternative medicines, but only your doctor can prescribe them (and do not stop your treatment without his advice!)

    (In brackets, you will benefit from avoiding these drugs anyway: among their adverse effects, ACE inhibitors and sartans increase your risk of lung cancer [13] [14]!)

    For paracetamol, the problem is a little different:
    Why you should ALSO avoid paracetamol

    Paracetamol, like anti-inflammatory drugs, has the great fault of lowering the fever artificially, and that is reason enough not to take it.

    But in addition, if you take it for several days, you have a real risk of ending up in the hospital for liver failure.

    Remember Naomi Musenga, the woman who died after calling the emergency room … without being taken seriously.

    Well, the Strasbourg Prosecutor discovered that his death was linked to “intoxication with paracetamol absorbed by self-medication over several days”.

    In fact, as soon as you take 2 or 3 grams per day, you are putting your liver in serious danger.

    According to a report from the Canadian Department of Health, 1 in 5 cases of very serious paracetamol poisoning occurs after the patient has complied with the authorized dose [15].

    And of course, if you exceed the maximum dose (more than 3 grams per day [16]), you are taking even more risks…

    … and that’s what could happen with our Minister’s irresponsible declaration!

    I can already imagine the thousands of people who will rush to the pharmacy to buy paracetamol, believing that it is effective against the coronavirus!

    Please transfer this letter around, you must absolutely avoid it!

    Especially since there is yet another risk with paracetamol: it depletes your glutathione reserves!

    Glutathione is the “master of antioxidants”: it allows other crucial vitamins, such as vitamins C and E, to play their full role.

    Most importantly, glutathione is used by our respiratory system to protect healthy cells from inflammatory damage [17].

    Besides, it’s because a substance like acetylcysteine ​​(NAC) increases your glutathione reserves that it thins the bronchi and protects your lungs.

    In short, it is, from all points of view, a VERY BAD IDEA to take paracetamol.

    According to the French National Authority for Health, the only justification for paracetamol is the “fight against the discomfort” linked to fever [18].

    But it is better for you to be “uncomfortable” for a few days, with a fever at 39.5 °, rather than finding yourself hospitalized, with respiratory assistance.

    And on this subject, especially do not clutter hospitals if you have “only” a fever. Call the EMS (15) only if you have trouble breathing!

    Now that we’ve seen what not to do, here’s what to do.

    I’ve refined the “natural anti-coronavirus protocol” a bit since my last letter on the subject, to make it even easier to carry out.
    Vulnerable or not, here’s what you need to do NOW

    Whether you are a vulnerable person or not, it is in your best interest to be as physically prepared as possible.

    This first involves three simple actions:

    Eating well – avoid sugary foods that plague the immune system, and eat light enough (fill up to 9/10, as the Japanese say);
    Sleep well – to help you, turn off that damn TV and stop watching the anxiety-provoking news, especially at night!
    And a gentle and regular physical activity, which is, by the way, one of the best “anti-stress” that exists (I mean “gentle”, this is not the time to do a marathon or intensive weight training ).

    I also recommend taking two food supplements:

    Vitamin D, whose effectiveness has been scientifically proven against acute respiratory infections [19]: go to the pharmacy, it costs almost nothing, and take 10,000 IU per day for 10 days, then 4,000 IU per day for 2 months (if you know you already have an optimal rate, 2 to 3,000 IU per day may be enough).
    A quality multivitamin, which contains sufficient amounts of vitamin C, vitamin E (natural) and zinc.

    Personally, I take vitamin D and a multivitamin all year round, but if you don’t, now is the time to do it, for at least 2 months.

    I refer you to my last letter for scientific justification, but I would like to add a word on zinc.

    Zinc is a powerful anti-viral, which should not be missed at this time.

    Better still, it could even be a key nutrient in the treatment of the most serious cases of coronavirus: as I said, South Korea has had excellent results with an alliance of hydroxychloroquine + zinc.

    So even if an excellent multivitamin can cost up to 40 euros per month, I really recommend that you make the investment for two months, especially if you are vulnerable.

    I give you back the few brands (on the Internet) that I trust: Biovancia, Unae, Supersmart.

    In an ideal world, this should be reimbursed by Social Security, but you have understood that our medical system was nothing ideal (or even “normal”).

    Finally, always in prevention, it’s time to indulge yourself with a thyme tea, with half an organic squeezed lemon and honey, every day.
    For vulnerable people: do it NOW, NOW

    Here is the advice I recommend more specifically to those who are vulnerable.

    So, this is primarily for people over 60 who have one or more health problems (lung disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.):

    Take a 3-week course of propolis: 400 mg in the morning, 400 mg in the evening.

    Propolis is one of the most powerful anti-virals that exist.

    And if you really want to put the odds in your favor, also buy a propolis throat spray, and use it at the very beginning of a sore throat, to prevent the virus from reaching your lungs.

    Use Ravintsara essential oil (Cinnamomum camphora CT cineole)

    To protect yourself from viruses, apply two pure drops, without rubbing, on the wrists and forearms, every morning and evening, five days a week (you can also use a drop of ravintsara and a drop of tea tree. , rather than 2 drops of ravintsara).

    It is extremely rare that this essential oil causes the slightest concern, but there can be ultra-fragile skin, so try a single drop first to see how it reacts on you.

    Take a two-month course of quercetin

    Quercetin is a powerful antiviral [20], which there are good reasons to believe that it could be effective against the coronavirus, in prevention and treatment [21] (this substance also has the merit of protecting your lungs [ 22]).

    I recommend at least 500 mg per day (trusted brands on the Internet: PerfectHealthSolution, Supersmart, Nutrixeal).

    And you can easily switch to 1000 mg per day if you are infected, there is no side effect with this dosage.

    If you are infected, this essential oil could make a difference

    If you are infected and have not followed the advice I just gave you, now is the time to do it.

    Simply, instead of the essential oil of ravintsara, useful in prevention, try that of Laurier Noble, potentially effective in the treatment of coronavirus.

    Here is what Pierre Franchomme, one of the world’s leading specialists in essential oils, said:

    “The anti-viral properties of the noble laurel have been the subject of well-documented research.

    This is the case of a study led by Monica Loizzo, from the Faculty of Pharmacy of Calabria. It has shown the in vitro activity of the essential oil of laurel noble on the SARS-CoV virus responsible for the SARS epidemic in 2003 [23] ”

    In practice, Didier le Bail offers the following protocol:

    “The noble laurel essential oil is to be used by the skin and preferably in pure form, that is to say without having been diluted in a vegetable oil or mixed with aloe vera gel.

    In practice, apply HE Laurier noble on the arch of the foot at the rate of 5 drops per arch, several times a day.

    It is essential to apply it only on this part of the body because this ensures rapid and optimal diffusion of the aromatic molecules into the pulmonary alveoli. ”

    So much for the basic advice.

    Again, I call on you to forward this letter to all of your contacts now.

    I’m counting on you, it’s very important.

    Good health to all,
    Xavier Bazin

    PS: I would like to finish by giving you some reassuring news:
    To read if you are PANIC

    The good news is all the more precious at the moment as stress and anxiety are bad for your immune system!

    So there is an urgent need to turn off the television and face reality.

    First, I would remind you that you risk almost nothing if you are young, a non-smoker and that you have no chronic illness.

    If you have no health problems and you are under 60-70 years old, you need not be afraid: even if you get the coronavirus, you have almost no chance of having serious complications. .

    So your priority is to avoid infecting vulnerable people.

    Who are the vulnerable people who could be at risk of dying from coronavirus?

    These are people over 50-60 who ALSO have one of the following diseases:

    Pulmonary Disease
    Cardiac disease
    Hypertension
    Diabetes
    Cancer
    Immuno-depression (for example following an organ transplant)
    Etc.

    Note that it is better to be 85 years old and feel healthy, rather than be 55 years old, smoke and suffer from heart disease.

    And of course, if you’re 80, you smoke AND you have high blood pressure or lung disease, then you have to do everything to avoid getting the coronavirus.

    Your priority is to avoid rubbing shoulders with others.

    Remember, people who look healthy may have the virus and pass it on to you.

    This does not mean that you have to stay “cloistered” at home.

    On the contrary, go for a walk, if possible in nature, because gentle physical activity is an essential means of strengthening your immune system and fighting infections.

    All in all, even if some vulnerable people have to be very careful, it is reassuring to know that:

    The vast majority of people do not risk anything: for them, the coronavirus will be a “big cold”.
    And unlike the great epidemics in history, children are completely spared from the coronavirus, which is good news.

    So there is no reason to panic.

    OK, but why do governments close schools and restaurants?

    It is true that the decisions of governments are agonizing.

    Many people say to themselves: “if our decision-makers take such radical measures, it is because the problem must be much more serious than what we are told! ”

    But no, it is not.

    As I explained to you in my last letter, the goal of governments is to smooth the epidemic over time.

    What they fear (and they are right!) Is that our hospitals are completely overwhelmed.

    Because the big problem with coronavirus is that many patients need:

    Breathing assistance (therefore a ventilator);
    and, for the most serious cases, to be placed in intensive care.

    The problem is that the number of ventilators, as well as the number of places in resuscitation and intensive care is limited.

    If too many people catch the coronavirus at the same time, hospitals may be overwhelmed.

    And when that happens, people die, when we could have treated them!

    This is what happened in Wuhan (China), and in northern Italy: the mortality of the virus is higher than normal, because the hospital system has been overwhelmed.

    That is why most governments are taking drastic measures, and rightly so.

    When hospitals are overwhelmed with coronavirus patients:

    not only do fragile people die when they could have been saved;
    but healthcare workers are exhausted, can burn out and, in rare cases, die from the infection because they are weakened by anxiety and lack of sleep.

    That’s why it’s imperative to smooth the epidemic over time.

    But note that, even in the worst case scenario, only a small minority of the vulnerable will die from the coronavirus.

    Even in the Hubei region of China, at the heart of the epidemic, there were “only” 3,000 dead, for a population equivalent to that of France.

    It’s 3,000 too many deaths, but it’s still little compared to the more than 10,000 deaths caused by winter infections each year in France.

    And there is other good news, which the media does not talk about enough:

    The Japanese have largely mastered the epidemic, without general containment (probably because they have tight borders and they all use masks)
    In South Korea, mortality is 10 times lower than in Italy, partly because they use more effective treatments than ours;
    In Germany, close to home, the death rate is also very low – 10 times lower than in France! (is it because they avoid ibuprofen and paracetamol?)

    But the most reassuring, for me, remains what has been observed in China for several days.

    Clearly, China has managed to completely put an end to the epidemic (Sunday, the number of new cases was only 20, including 16 imported !!).

    This is remarkable for a country of 1.4 billion inhabitants, which has nevertheless been contaminated everywhere, following the Chinese New Year.

    True, serious containment measures have been taken, but not much different from what is being done in Europe at the moment.

    So there is every reason to think that the epidemic will recede in a few weeks … and that it will only be a bad memory, with, hopefully, fewer deaths than the seasonal flu.

    So don’t panic!

    I know that the situation is particularly worrying, but we are going to pass this test!

    FOOTNOTES

    [1] https://www.ina.fr/video/CPF86644119

    [2] https://www.has-sante.fr/prise_en_charge_de_la_fievre_chez_lenfant.pdf

    [3] https://www.thedailybeast.com/let-it-burn-why-you-should-let-fevers-run-their-course

    [4] https://www.thedailybeast.com/let-it-burn-why-you-should-let-fevers-run-their-course

    [5] https://www.has-sante.fr/prise_en_charge_de_la_fievre_chez_lenfant.pdf

    [6] https://www.sante-corps-esprit.com/quand-allons-nous-arreter-de-faire-baisser-la-fievre

    [7] https://accpjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1592/phco.20.19.1417.34865

    [8] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022347689804615

    [9] http://www.medicinabiomolecular.com.br/biblioteca/pdfs/Doencas/do-1323.pdf

    [10] https://www.boursorama.com/medecins-sur-le-pied-de-guerre-face-au-coronavirus

    [11] https://www.lematin.ch/sait-desormais-coronavirus-attaque/story/16208463

    [12] https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2213-2600%2820%2930116-8

    [13] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20542468

    [14] https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/363/bmj.k4209.full.pdf

    [15] https://web.archive.org/reviews-examens/acetamino-eng.php

    [16] http://base-donnees-publique.medicaments.gouv.fr/affichageDoc

    [17] https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/50/suppl_61/PA988

    [18] https://www.has-sante.fr/prise_en_charge_de_la_fievre_chez_lenfant.pdf

    [19] https://www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.i6583

    [20] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6598929/

    [21] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=795GrZUgQww&app

    [22] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29975735

    [23] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/coronavirus+sras+laurus+nobilis

  • https://anarchistsworldwide.noblogs.org/post/2020/03/16/france-the-worst-virus-ever-authority/

    “…this new totalitarianism has the face of Science and Medicine, of neutrality and common interest. Pharmaceutical, telecommunications and new technology will find the solution. In China, the use of geo-locating to report any movement and any case of infection, facial recognition and e-commerce are helping the State to ensure that every citizen is locked up in their own home. Today, the same states that have based their existence on confinement, war and massacre, including of their own population, impose their “protection” through prohibitions, borders and armed men. How long will this situation last? Two weeks, a month, a year? We know that the state of emergency declared after the attacks [translation note: originally imposed in 2015 following the Islamic State terrorist attacks in Paris] has been extended several times, until the emergency measures were definitively incorporated into French law. What will this new emergency lead us to?…

  • Coronavirus: The new and ingenious ways Chinese citizens are evading censorship to learn about the outbreak:

    https://www.hongkongfp.com/2020/03/13/coronavirus-new-ingenious-ways-chinese-citizens-evading-censorship-learn-outbreak/

  • Italian workers strike against lack of protection from coronavirus at workplaces:

    https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-sparks-nationwide-strikes-in-italy/

  • Algeria bans street marches due to virus; some protesters unswayed:

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-algeria-protests/algeria-bans-street-marches-due-to-virus-some-protesters-unswayed-idUSKBN2143UH?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

    “It was not immediately clear if all protesters would agree to suspend their movement. One, school teacher Mohamed Hachimi, said the demonstrations would not stop.

    “The system is trying to use coronavirus as an argument to end our revolution. Tebboune and his men will fail because marches will continue,” he said.

    Algeria has confirmed 60 cases of the coronavirus including five deaths, mostly in the town of Blida”

  • […] by Dialectical Delinquents from USA on social control and anti-insurgency in epidemic conditions. http://dialectical-delinquents.com/coronavirus-an-exercise-in-intensified-social-control/?fbclid=IwA… – Text by the ever-remarkable Mike Davis describing the pandemic as a medical Hurricane Katrina. […]

  • According to dominant medical opinion in China chloroquine – an anti-viral medicine used against malaria – is significantly useful against the respiratory effects (ie the lethal effects) of coronavirus. Though this remains to be systematically researched, the real possibility of this being a cure was announced on February 25th, 3 weeks ago! –

    https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/sante/la-chloroquine-est-elle-un-bon-traitement-contre-le-coronavirus_141893

    Translation of the above article:

    Chloroquine, a well-known antimalarial, could effectively treat Covid-19, according to Chinese researchers. An announcement amplified by Professor Didier Raoult that it could sound “the end of the game” for the coronavirus epidemic…

    “Game over !” for the Covid-19 epidemic? This is the title of the video of a spectacular announcement, that of Professor Didier Raoult, director of the Institut hospitalo-universitaire Méditerranée-Infections in Marseille in the sequence published on February 25, 2020 by the prestigious research center (see below). below). At the source of this news, two Chinese publications which reveal the potential interest of a long-known antimalarial drug, chloroquine, to accelerate the healing of patients affected by the new Chinese coronavirus. “Chloroquine phosphate, an old drug for the treatment of malaria, has been shown to have apparent efficacy and acceptable safety against pneumonia associated with Covid-19 in multicenter clinical trials in China,” writes a team of pharmacologists from Qingdao University Hospital (Shandong Province – China). If Covid-19 is benign in 85% of cases, such treatment would manage moderate to severe cases. Researchers report several trials in 10 Chinese hospitals including 100 patients in total, a sample still quite limited….

    We will have to continue to evaluate the effectiveness of chloroquine, but a consensus of experts recommends in the scientific articles cited above to include, in China, chloroquine phosphate in the recommendations for patient management, 500 mg twice a day for 10 days. The advantage of such a strategy? This antimalarial is readily available and inexpensive, as the drug has been used for a long time. Still, the announcement of Professor Didier Raoult has been strongly criticized by many French doctors and scientists on social networks for its lack of weight. In fact, clinical data are still limited, and taking chloroquine can cause potentially serious side effects …

    Chloroquine, recommended dose and side effects

    Questioned by Sciences et Avenir, Didier Raoult dismisses the critics: “We have been using chloroquine for a long time in our team to treat certain bacterial infections. Some of our patients have been treated for 2 years so we know the potential side effects. We should start taking Chinese scientists, especially virologists, who are among the best teams in the world, seriously. ”

    In this case, two risks related to chloroquine have been raised in the past. First, that of retinal damage which can even lead to blindness in certain cases. But this concerns a long-term use of this medication (several years). In the case of Covid-19, this would involve treating the patients for ten days. “However, 500 mg twice a day is certainly an important dose,” admits Didier Raoult. The other side effect is that of well-documented acute poisoning, which can trigger heart or respiratory problems. The dose recommended by Chinese researchers approaches this risk zone (20 mg / kg / day not to be exceeded, i.e. 1200 mg for a person of 60 kg, 1500 mg for 75 kg, according to Vidal).

    Towards a clinical trial against coronaviruses with chloroquine in France?

    “The history of chloroquine as an antiviral is a soap opera that gives us a new episode with each emerging virus”, moderates Professor Astrid Vabret, head of the virology department at the CHU de Caen. We know that it works well in vitro on enveloped viruses like this new coronavirus. But the clinical data remains very limited. “It is therefore out of the question to be hhasty about this drug.

    Didier Raoult, himself, is already making plans: “We want to set up a clinical trial in France to test chloroquine on patients infected with already known coronaviruses and which circulate every year around France – without anyone really caring. However, since the beginning of the year, we have diagnosed 500 patients with these other coronaviruses, two of whom have died. It is based on these profiles that I want to test this strategy now. ”

    In fact, four strains of coronavirus already circulate every year in France. “It is important to know that panic is always more dangerous than viruses”, insists Professor Raoult. “However, this new coronavirus really does not deserve a panicky reaction. I continue to say that like other seasonal viruses, it has a strong chance of disappearing in the spring. At worst, instead of having 13 viruses that give seasonal infections, we will have 14. But I doubt that it will make a significant difference to winter mortality. ”

    The French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, having met with Didier Raoult on several occasions. affirmed: “He told me of his observations and the studies which he highlighted, which I sent back to the general directorate of health which is currently carrying out all the analyses. “

  • The guy who sent me the links to news about the C crisis in Israel, sent me this:

    Facebook is starting to delete or block certain posts, by me and my friends, all of them critical to the current situation. My posts who were blocked all contained quotes and links to some timesofisrael articles.

    This is getting a bit more alarming.

    Note 19/3/20: apparently Facebook reinstated the guy’s posts saying that it recognised it conformed to their standards, though giving no explanation for having taken them off nor why they put them back up.

  • UK: schoolchildren and workers say they are taking matters into own hands

    https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/covid-19-walkout-twitter-coronavirus-17929518

    Just hope they washed those hands first.

  • A site with various bits of information about elements of struggle against the lack of health provisions;
    https://twitter.com/WorkersAngry

    And another in German:
    https://solidarischgegencorona.wordpress.com/globale-entwicklung/

    By the way, in France, it’s legal (a “right”) for individuals to withdraw – either collectively or singly – from work if there’s a danger to their health and safety.

    None of these things so far challenge the policy of confinement (breaking of which can get you a 135 to 375 euro fine in France or 7 years jail in Israel) or other aspects of this state of exception/deception. (note: I earlier today mistakenly put a 4000 euro fine for France)

  • Senator Dumped Up to $1.6 Million of Stock After Reassuring Public About Coronavirus Preparedness –

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/senator-richard-burr-coronavirus-stock_n_5e73e80dc5b6f5b7c5412d6c

    “Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $582,029 and $1.56 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 29 separate transactions.

    As the head of the intelligence committee, Burr, a North Carolina Republican, has access to the government’s most highly classified information about threats to America’s security. His committee was receiving daily coronavirus briefings around this time, according to a Reuters story.

    A week after Burr’s sales, the stock market began a sharp decline and has lost about 30% since.

    On Thursday, Burr came under fire after NPR obtained a secret recording from Feb. 27, in which the lawmaker gave a VIP group at an exclusive social club a much more dire preview of the economic impact of the coronavirus than what he had told the public.

  • Prison resistance:

    France, Moselle, 15th March:

    About 100 prisoners refuse to return to their cells following prediction of visitor suspension (not yet enforced, though enforced from 17th March onwards)), and already-enforced suspension of outsiders, such as teachers, giving lessons in prison.

    https://www.ouest-france.fr/sante/virus/coronavirus/coronavirus-une-rumeur-sur-la-fin-des-parloirs-provoque-une-mutinerie-la-prison-de-metz-queuleu-6783242

    19th March:
    France, Argentan: 14 prisoners climb onto roof for a few hours in resistance to enforced suppression of visitors, and of outside workers:

    https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/faits-divers-justice/14-detenus-sur-le-toit-de-la-prison-d-argentan-confinement-tendu-en-detention-1584641094

    “…several rebellious movements also took place in Nantes, Angers, Val-de-Reuil…”[in prisons]

  • Some statistics about Italy:
    https://fr.news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-pourquoi-mortalite-si-elevee-en-italie-102506438.html

    Quick google translate from French:
    “The number of Italians who died from the new coronavirus is particularly high. A dramatic situation which can be explained, in particular, by the age of the population but also by their habits.

    The case fatality rate for the new coronavirus varies from country to country, due in part to the screening policy. The higher the number of patients screened and declared sick, the more, mechanically, the rate decreases.

    But one country is an exception as its numbers are high: Italy. Since Thursday, March 19, the death toll has been even higher than in China. 3,405 people died in the first, compared to 3,133 where the epidemic started.

    According to the latest official figures, the fatality rate in Italy is 8.2% (41,035 cases, 3,405 deaths). By comparison, it is 3.8% in China (81,199 cases, 3,133 deaths), 3.4% in France (11,010 cases, 372 deaths), 4.6% in Spain (18,077 cases, 833 deaths) and 0.2% in Germany (15,320 cases, 44 deaths). The latter country is also an exception, but for its particularly low rate.

    The oldest country in Europe

    Several factors can explain the critical situation in Italy. Starting with the age of the inhabitants, as the Scientific American website explains. 23% of Italians are over 65, making it the oldest population in Europe and even the second oldest in the world after Japan! The median age is 47.3 years, against 41.1 here, according to INSEE.

    Several consequences arise from the advanced age of the population. In some regions, the number of sick people even before the virus arrived was already high, which very logically led to a rapid saturation of hospitals.

    On the other hand, with age, the risks of developing a disease – cancer, hypertension, heart problems … – increase. However, according to Walter Ricciardi, professor and member of the WHO, and figures from the Italian Higher Institute of Health, the vast majority of Italians who died from the virus suffered from at least one aggravating pathology. According to the report, which draws on figures from March 17, the average age of people dead in the country is 79.5 years.
    Contacts between high generations

    The high case fatality rate of the Boot can also be explained by the habits of its inhabitants. For example, according to Abc, 21% of Italians smoke. However, Covid-19 being a respiratory disease, which can lead to pneumonia, this practice can play against the patients, according to the American media. On this side, France is not a very good student, since, in 2017, 26.9% of the population smoked at least once a day.

    Another custom that can work against the country: according to Jennifre Dowd, a professor at Oxford, contacts between generations are particularly important in Italy. As the Wired site reports, taking up a study carried out by the English university, young people tend to live with their parents and even their grandparents in the countryside, even if they work in the city. They are therefore forced to make frequent trips between the two, which may have accelerated the spread of the virus among the oldest inhabitants – and therefore at risk.

    The virus detected too late

    It is also very likely that the Italian authorities took a long time to become aware of the coronavirus epidemic in their country. According to Time, long before the official arrival of the Covid-19 in the Boot, many people were hospitalized for pneumonia, one of the possible consequences of the virus. However, they were not initially treated as carriers, so precautions to avoid spread were not taken from the start.

    Last explanation, even if the number of tests carried out in the country is significant, it may be that the number of infected people is much higher than what the official figures indicate, due to the speed of spread in Italy. However, more patients declared would mechanically lower the fatality rate.”

    And some flu statistics for Italy:

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971219303285

    Quote: “Objectives: In recent years, Italy has been registering peaks in death rates, particularly among the elderly during the winter season. Influenza epidemics have been indicated as one of the potential determinants of such an excess. The objective of our study was to estimate the influenza-attributable contribution to excess mortality during the influenza seasons from 2013/14 to 2016/17 in Italy.
    Results
    We estimated excess deaths of 7,027, 20,259, 15,801 and 24,981 attributable to influenza epidemics in the 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17, respectively, using the Goldstein index. The average annual mortality excess rate per 100,000 ranged from 11.6 to 41.2 with most of the influenza-associated deaths per year registered among the elderly. However children less than 5 years old also reported a relevant influenza attributable excess death rate in the 2014/15 and 2016/17 seasons (1.05/100,000 and 1.54/100,000 respectively).
    Conclusions
    Over 68,000 deaths were attributable to influenza epidemics in the study period. The observed excess of deaths is not completely unexpected, given the high number of fragile very old subjects living in Italy. In conclusion, the unpredictability of the influenza virus continues to present a major challenge to health professionals and policy makers. …”

  • Headline: “The Economic Devastation Is Going to Be Worse Than You Think

    The coronavirus’s overwhelming toll on jobs and businesses has only just begun.”

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/03/covid-19s-devastating-effects-jobs-and-businesses/608461/

  • http://autonomies.org/2020/03/the-coronavirus-as-a-declaration-of-war/

    “In the morning, I conscientiously wash my hands. I can thus forget the eyes torn out by the police in Chile, France or Iraq. Before eating, I wash my hands again with a good disinfectant to forget about the migrants piled up in Lesbos. And, at night, I wash my hands again to forget that, in Yemen, every ten minutes, a child dies from the bombings and hunger. So I can fall asleep. What happens is that I don’t remember why I wash my hands so often or when I started doing it. Radio and television insist that this is a measure of self-protection. By protecting myself, I protect others. The silence of the deserted street enters through the window. Everything that seemed to be impossible and unimaginable happens in these moments: closed schools, prohibition to leave home without justification, whole countries isolated. Everyday life has been blown up and all that remains is to wait. Last night, It was nice to hear the applause that people dedicated to the health professionals from their balconies.”

  • This article about the almost certain absence of the “airborne” nature of the virus is interesting:
    https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/16/coronavirus-can-become-aerosol-doesnt-mean-doomed/

    Worth pointing out that its content almost totally contradicts its headline (“The new coronavirus can likely remain airborne for some time. That doesn’t mean we’re doomed”)

  • This, despite a somewhat misplaced optimism, is interesting, mentioning various strikes worldwide:
    https://angryworkersworld.wordpress.com/2020/03/24/working-under-the-corona-regime-the-current-struggles-are-taking-first-steps-towards-workers-control/

    “The most immediate demands of workers on strike were to receive the right protection gear against Covid-19. But then many strikes went further than this, for example in the case of AvioAreo in Italy workers questioned whether their work – the production of aeroplane engines – is socially essential in these times. Workers at Ferrari did the same for obvious reasons.”

  • https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/china-approach-coronavirus-replicated-200323080154581.html

    X writes:
    Useful article, esp. in its description of the “technologically enhanced archaism” of using tradional (at least Ming era) systems of villiage/neighborhood spying networks, plus medern surveillance and data processing equipment. Of course, fascism may be described as “technologically enhanced archaism/barbarism” too, because it, and the Chinese system, are teleologically identical.

  • Google translate from German of list of some strikes (it translates what in German would be wildcat strikes as “wild strikes”, and I haven’t the time to correct it) –
    https://solidarischgegencorona.wordpress.com/globale-entwicklung/

    The following chronology is intended to provide an overview of the diverse reactions to the pandemic and their immediate and indirect effects. Above all, we want to make the events public where people have the courage to join forces and defend themselves against lack of hygiene measures, loss of income or corporate and state repression. So that the knowledge about the struggles circulates.

    Chronology

    23.3 – AvioAero workers are on strike against the Italian Prime Minister’s new regulation: https://twitter.com/Mau_Ri_83/status/1242077127249444878

    21.3 – Protests by some street cleaning workers in Lima / Peru: https://twitter.com/SITOBUR/status/1241184936356265984
    21.3 – Protests in a prison in Calcutta: https://twitter.com/sebastianlotzer/status/1241698577132462084
    21.3 – Protests and attempts to escape in a prison in Aura / Uganda: https://twitter.com/sebastianlotzer/status/1241693013715423232
    21.3 – Protests in several prisons in Colombia: https://twitter.com/sebastianlotzer/status/1241693013715423232
    21.3 – Protests by miners in Ayacucho / Perú for better security measures: https://twitter.com/FNTMMSPOFICIAL/status/1241474021818073088
    21.3 – The rent strike movement in North America is expanding, in Montreal, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Oakland and other cities, banners are calling for participation: https://twitter.com/MW_Unrest/status/1241198051886346240

    20.3 – Dock workers in Oakland / US threaten to strike if no measures are taken to protect against COVID-19: https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Coronavirus-Port-of-Oakland-longshoremen-15147186.php
    20.3 – In Istanbul, workers are striking on the construction site of the major Galataport port project for better protective measures: https://twitter.com/contre_capital/status/1241081069547458560
    20. 3 (start unknown) Migrants go on hunger strikes in internment camps across the United States. The inmates are afraid of an outbreak of the virus due to poor medical care in the camps. There is also an outside support movement for people on hunger strike: https://twitter.com/NeverAgainActn/status/1241111337029242882?s=20
    20.3. In Monterey Park, California, workers at MC Donalds go on strike for better protection against COVID 19. https://twitter.com/fightfor15/status/1241032717354987521?s=20

    19.3 – Walkout at Fiat / Crysler in Chicago / US: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/21/auto-m21.html

  • 19.3 – Wild strikes and protests by call center workers in different cities in Brazil (we are still trying to translate the information): https://passapalavra.info/2020/03/130296/
    19.3. Strike in the Turkish textile factory SARAR due to lack of health protection measures on the part of the company. https://twitter.com/WorkersAngry/status/1240910037461188608
    19.3 – Strike on Amazon in New York: https://twitter.com/NYCAmazonians/status/1240509204840005632

    18.3 – Auto workers strikes in Ohio and Michigan: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/18/shap-m18.html
    18.3 – Labor demonstrations for wages in various companies in Iran: AzArab (petrochemical), HepCo and Tehran’s Metro: https://twitter.com/WorkersAngry/status/1240187144142049283?s=20 There were also strikes in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas : https://twitter.com/WorkersAngry/status/1240198517869678594?s=20
    18.3. – (and before) prison riots in 27 Italian prisons and at least 2 prisons in France. In addition, prisoners in Madrid take over a prison section: https://twitter.com/sebastianlotzer/status/1240037694106894339

    17.3 – Strike and decommissioning at the Daimler plant in Untertürkheim: https://automotiveworkers.org/de/2020/q1/mercedes-kollegen-im-werkteil-mettingen-daimler-untertuerkheim-haben-die-arbeit-nieder
    17.3 – Wild strikes in several US auto factories: https://www.wsws.org/de/articles/2020/03/20/usau-m20.html
    17.3 – Revolt in the deportation prison in Aluche / Spain: https://www.elsaltodiario.com/coronavirus/revuelta-en-el-cie-de-aluche-por-internos-con-sintomas-de-coronavirus
    17.3 – Revolt in the prison in Rhoumieh / Lebanon for fear of spreading the virus: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/riots-rock-overcrowded-lebanon-prisons-coronavirus-fears-200317164301234.html
    17.3 – Strike by construction workers in Linz due to lack of safety precautions: https://www.bonvalot.net/streik-in-linz-wegen-der-corona-rise-984
    17.3 – Strikes in several Amazon camps in France: https://twitter.com/WorkersAngry/status/1239881858726461441
    17.3 – Protests in China after resuming work: https://clb.org.hk/content/collective-protests-begin-flare-again-china-returns-work

    16.3 – strike call at Ferrari in Modena / Italy, the next day the factory closes: http://usi-cit.org/index.php/1663-16-marzo-2020-modena

    16.3 – Health workers in Nantes on strike: https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la-loire/nantes-44000/nantes-agents-d-entretien-en-greve-al-hopital-on- na-plus-de-disinfectant-125a9c7c-6777-11ea-bcfc-a70fb4b6fddd
    16.3 – 5000 workers at Mercedes in Vitoria-Gasteiz go on strike to shut down their factory: https://www.klassegegenklasse.org/spanien-5000-arbeiterinnen-von-mercedes-stoppen-die-produktion-aufgrund-der-untaetigkeit-des -company /

    14.4 – Solidarity with the Italian hospital workers: https://twitter.com/Mau_Ri_83/status/1238845347360845830
    14.4. – China: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3075213/coronavirus-residents-hubei-community-defy-lockdown-protest

    13.3 – Arrest of 8 striking workers from EmilianaSerbatoi / Italy: https://twitter.com/Mau_Ri_83/status/1238761786331054082
    13.3 – walkout at FIAT in Canada: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/03/13/coronavirus-fiat-chrysler-plant-workers-walk-out-in-canada.html
    13.3 – Strikes at the following companies in Bologna: #GLS #SDA #FERCAM #GROSSALIANI #ZUSTAMBROSetti #UPS #TNT (via S.I. Cobas)
    13.3 – The workers of #ElectroLux in Susegana at #Treviso go on an 8-hour #strike, demanding the closure of all unnecessary activities and continued payment of wages #redditodiquarantena: https://twitter.com/Mau_Ri_83/status/1238422284244865025
    13.3 – wildcat strike in local public transport: https://www.rtbf.be/info/regions/detail_coronavirus-greve-sauvage-dans-les-depots-de-bus-tec-liege-verviers
    13.3 – Strike of the garbage workers in Bexley / London: https://twitter.com/darrenpovey79/status/1238410042325549057
    13.3 – wildcat strikes across Italy: https://twitter.com/BethanBowett/status/1238398119773188099

    12.3 – Strike at TNT in Teverola / Italy: https://twitter.com/Giul_Granato/status/1238010891129491456
    12.3 – Corneliani workers’ strike in #Mantova (luxury clothing production). “Luxury dresses are not essential goods, the factory should close!”: https://twitter.com/Mau_Ri_83/status/1238085207338729472
    12.3 – Cleaners in London on strike: https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/cleaning-staff-at-lewisham-hospital-where-londons-first-coronavirus-case-was-confirmed-refuse-to-work- in-row-over-pay /

    11.3 – Wild strikes at Fiat and reaction: “The FCA Group has now announced in a written notice that all production sites in Italy (Pomigliano d’Arco, Melfi, Cassina, Atessa) will be temporarily closed and subjected to special cleaning and disinfection measures become. It is a first success, but it was only enforced thanks to the assertiveness of the workers and is limited exclusively to the Fiat factories. ”

    10.3 – Wild strike in logistics in Piacenza / Italy: “” We remain in place until the company has found a solution. We risk our lives to get to work. But our health comes first! ”Says the logistics workers from Bartolini di Caorso in the province of Piacenza (video). They stopped deliveries because of the lack of necessary safety measures in the face of the corona virus emergency: the warehouses were not cleaned and disinfected, and respirators and gloves were not provided. ”
    10.3 – Wild strike at FIAT in Napoli: “The protests are not limited to this company, the workers of the Fiat factory also laid down in Pomigliano d’Arco near Napoli.”

    9.3 – The revolt in the prison is spreading rapidly: “The protests have already been counted in 27 prisons across Italy, the number of deaths has meanwhile increased to 8 people, some inmates were able to flee in Foggia, but the police caught them again. ”

    8.3 – After announcement of visiting bans there are revolts in Italian prisons: “The announcement of the temporary suspension of visits and colloquia in the Italian prisons due to the risk of infection has led to rioting in three prisons in the Campania region (Salerno, Caserta, Napoli) guided. The situation in Salerno in particular got out of control for a short time. ”

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  • Voluntary euthanasia for those surplus to requirements ( the requirements of their economy):

    https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/24/repulsive-outrage-texas-lieutenant-gov-says-seniors-willing-risk-coronavirus

    “Tx Lt Gov Dan Patrick says grandparents would be willing to die to save the economy for their grandchildren”

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  • More useful information concerning resistance to all this shit can be found here (though I admit, I haven’t read it all, and it may be that one or two of these links are thoroughly ideological in the worst sense of the term):

    https://mobile.twitter.com/WorkersAngry

    http://libcom.org/blog/class-struggle-time-coronavirus-incomplete-chronicle-events-16-21-march-23032020

    https://plagueandfire.noblogs.org/

    https://mobile.twitter.com/perilousprisons?lang=en

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  • Wonders of social control Hong Kong-style:

    https://www.hongkongfp.com/2020/03/24/coronavirus-surveillance-tech-far-will-govts-go-will-return-freedoms-people/

    “On Wednesday, the Hong Kong government announced that all new arrivals to the city must undergo two weeks of self-quarantine, while wearing an electronic wristband that connects to a location tracking app on their phone….If the app detects changes in the person’s location, it will alert the Department of Health and the police. Prior to this new policy, only people who had recently visited Hubei province in China were required to wear a monitoring wristband during their quarantine period.

    While surveillance technologies and measures may give the public a sense of security in controlling the spread of the virus, we must remain mindful and vigilant of their continued use after the pandemic subsides.”

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  • https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/doj-suspend-constitutional-rights-coronavirus-970935/

    The Trump Department of Justice has asked Congress to craft legislation allowing chief judges to indefinitely hold people without trial and suspend other constitutionally-protected rights during coronavirus and other emergencies…While the asks from the Department of Justice will likely not come to fruition with a Democratically-controlled House of Representatives, they demonstrate how much this White House has a frightening disregard for rights enumerated in the Constitution.

    This shows the nature of the US Attorney General:
    https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/william-barr-notre-dame-secularism/

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  • Mostly Google Translate :

    25/3/20:

    Belgium, Arlon and Leuze: prison riots

    https://berthoalain.com/2020/03/26/coronavirus-mutinerie-a-la-prison-darlon-25-mars-2020/

    “The coronavirus in Belgium has led to strict containment measures implemented ten days ago to contain its spread. These have resulted in tensions in some prisons in the country which turned into rebellions this Wednesday evening in Leuze-en-Hainaut and Arlon.

    The coronavirus brings prisons to boiling point. Wednesday evening, a series of detainees refused to return to their cells after the courtyard, in Leuze-en-Hainaut and Arlon. This Thursday morning two prisoners were still “recalcitrant” but everything is now back to normal, says the spokesman for the Prison Administration, Kathleen Van De Vijver.

    Shortly after 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, the police force of the area of ​​Tournaisis went to the prison of Leuze-en-Hainaut, where a group of prisoners still refused to return to the cells. Since confinement, the yards are insured but restricted to small groups of prisoners.

    “At 5 p.m., there were 21 prisoners outside. At the end of the courtyard, eight of them refused to return to their cell. They demanded on the one hand more call credits for their telephone and also a full canteen. Currently, some products (crisps, cigarettes, soft drinks, cookies …), supplied by a supermarket, are not available. But as of next Monday, we should be restocked, “explains Kathleen Van De Vijver.

    Two detainees were still in the courtyard on Thursday morning, but have now agreed to return. At Arlon prison, about thirty prisoners who refused to return to their cells Wednesday evening, after the courtyard. The police arrived at around 10:15 p.m. and began a discussion with the detainees, who then agreed to return.

    “However, eight leaders have been provisionally placed in think tanks pending disciplinary proceedings,” said Kathleen Van De Vijver. Until April 5, at least, all prisoners are denied access and they no longer have any common activity (sports, library, lessons). The three daily meals are provided as well as the yards, the logistical tasks (cooking, cleaning …) and workshops for external firms.”

    24/3/20;
    Riot in capital of Honduras:

    https://berthoalain.com/2020/03/26/coronavirus-emeute-a-tegucigalpa-25-mars-2020/

    “Protest in Honduras because of lack of supplies against coronavirus.

    The protests were sparked after eight days of quarantine for the health emergency.

    With the use of tear gas, the Honduran police faced protests by several citizens on Tuesday due to the lack of food and the curfew imposed because of Covid-19, local media reported.

    According to local media reports, the protests began on the North Boulevard of the Honduran capital, led by transporters who demand that the government allow them to work because they depend on it for their daily livelihood.

    In addition, there were other groups in different points of the capital, that demanded to be allowed to work for the distribution of food.

    The riots peaked on the North Boulevard when protesters erected barricades with burning tires to close streets.

    One of the groups was that of the workers in the transport area – drivers, collectors and dispatchers – whose units remain paralyzed before the curfew. They claim to have no food for their families because they subsist on a daily basis.

    This group was joined by another in the La Popular neighborhood, which demands that the government allow them to circulate to earn their livelihood.

    “We don’t have food, as long as they don’t support us we won’t move from here,” said one of the neighbors. “We need milk, diapers and food,” he added.

    Honduras, with 36 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, has declared a “health emergency” across the country, has closed its borders and imposed a curfew that is “absolute” in six cities.

    In addition, the government announced on Monday that it will provide food aid to 800,000 families.”

    25/3/20:

    Prison riot in Santa Fe, Argentina, sparked by prisoners demanding better hygene and health protection for potential Coronavirus:

    https://berthoalain.com/2020/03/26/coronavirus-mutinerie-a-la-prison-de-santa-fe-25-mars-2020/

    “prisoners from two pavilions started fires that sparked new confrontations with the agents of the Penitentiary Service, with the balance of three injured inmates, who had to be hospitalized.

    The riots occurred in pavilions 1 and 5 of the prison, which has a total of 1060 inmates. At those two points the prisoners came out into the hallway and began burning mattresses and urging other inmates to bow to the mutiny. Agents from the Special Penitentiary Operations Group (GOEP) broke into the conflict zone and new clashes ensued. Three detainees were admitted to the Cullen hospital in Santa Fe. One of them reportedly lost an eye, hit by rubber pellets during the repression.

    The climate was once again rarefied in Penal Unit No. 2 due to delays in the entry of food that relatives bring to the inmates, which until Monday was closed, although it was allowed again after the bloody riots. “The problem is that inside the” bagayos “(the packages that carry the visits) the drug enters the jail. And since it was prohibited, narcotics are not entering the jail, something that alters the inmates,” said a senior official. of the Santa Fe government.

    “The problems that erupted in the Santa Fe prisons will not end in one day, because the structural crisis of the penitentiary system, with an overpopulation of more than 1,000 inmates, added the specific inconveniences caused by the pandemic,” he assured LA NATION, the Undersecretary for Penitentiary Affairs and Policies, Héctor Acuña.

    So far, there are no inmates or agents of the Penitentiary Service infected with coronavirus. The inmates’ claim, which began in the Coronda prison – where inmate Alan Montenegro, a member of the Barrabrava de Colón died – and expanded almost at the same time to Las Flores and Piñero prison, arose because the inmates were demanding more Hygiene and health measures in the pavilions due to the danger of contagion of coronavirus.

    The riots broke out a day after the Provincial Public Service for Criminal Defense presented a habeas corpus in which it denounced “deficiencies that violate human rights” and “non-compliance with the sanitary measures that should be adopted in the framework of the pandemic” .

    On Tuesday afternoon, the Santa Fe criminal judge Susana Luna ordered the authorities of the provincial Penitentiary Service to implement a series of sanitary measures to prevent the circulation of the coronavirus in prison establishments.

    The prisoners of Las Flores denounced today that they did not have water nor to hydrate themselves. Is that the prison was totally destroyed after the riot. The mutineers broke pipes and the entire electrical installation. Not only did they set fire to part of the pavilions, but they looted and burned the pharmacy, the infirmary, the school and the work rooms.

    Judge Luna’s ruling also contemplated that inmates, as well as prison officers, should take their body temperature permanently in order to detect any possible symptoms of Covid-19.

    In dialogue with LA NACION, the head of the Provincial Public Service of Provincial Criminal Defense, Jaquelina Balangione, stated: “We have been denouncing the serious situation of the Santa Fe prisons for a long time, with an overpopulation of more than 1,000 inmates, but which is now adding to the coronavirus crisis. ”

    “Life in prisons is inhumane, with overcrowded and unhealthy conditions that are more serious at this time,” said the official, who asked prosecutors and judges in Santa Fe to speed up instances to decongest prisons through house arrests. , transitory exits and parole.

    “At this time it is crucial to solve the prison overcrowding,” he said, while specifying that in the provincial penitentiaries “there is capacity for 5758 inmates and there are currently 6667.”

    The focus of the tension is in the Las Flores prison, where the most violent riot occurred, where four inmates of one of the two pavilions arrested for sexual crimes were killed. Police and Prison Service officers found three fully charred bodies. But the concern of government officials is also about the two largest prisons: Coronda and Piñero.

    ****

    25/3/20:

    India, Maharashtra: Clashes between extended family and cops after cops order them to stay at home

    https://www.timesnownews.com/videos/times-now/india/video-clashes-breakout-between-cops-villagers-after-stay-home-appeal-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/56699

    24/3/20:

    France, Yvelines: anti-confinement barbecue leads to arrests –
    https://actu17.fr/yvelines-ils-participent-a-un-barbecue-anti-confinement-sur-un-toit-dimmeuble-et-finissent-en-garde-a-vue/

    17/3/20:

    France, Elbeuf near Rouen: youths chuck heavy-duty fireworks at cops during anti-confinement barbecue, as they also play “rodeo” (races and handbrake turns probably with stolen cars); no arrests.

    https://actu.fr/normandie/elbeuf_76231/coronavirus-barbecue-geant-tirs-mortier-premier-jour-confinement-elbeuf_32353951.html

    24/3/20:

    India, Delhi: state uses pretext of virus to send in cops to break up longest running sit-in against new racist citizenship law

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/shaheen-bagh-anti-caa-sit-removed-coronavirus-lockdown-200324043641945.html

    24/3/20:

    Benin: student killed during clashes with cops. Apparently students had demanded the end of classes due to the virus, but a teacher had then ignored this, so students tried to force the class to close down. Cops were called, students were arrested. Students then blocked the highway and clashes ensued with the filth and a student was killed.

    https://lanouvelletribune.info/2020/03/etudiant-mort-par-balle-au-benin-ce-que-lon-sait-affaire-coronavirus/

    24/3/20:

    Colombia: Riots and looting in 4 towns and cities

    https://berthoalain.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-emeutes-et-pillages-a-pereira-bogota-soacha-riohacha-24-mars-2020/

    Colombia, Cucuta: Prison riot provoked by virus

    https://berthoalain.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-mutinerie-a-la-prison-de-cucuta-24-mars-2020/

    “During the morning of this Tuesday, detonations of firearms were heard and a fire was recorded in one of the patios of the La Modelo prison in Cúcuta.
    While some family members were preparing to enter the penitentiary center with the aim of giving prisoners personal hygiene items, shots were heard inside the prison.

    At least 250 inmates attacked the guards and set fire to mats. Inmates throw rocks and threaten Inpec members with artisan-made weapons.

    The situation is critical, from the roofs of neighboring houses and nearby hills, amateur videos have been recorded showing a group of inmates running on the roof of the prison and guards from Inpec shooting to neutralize the inmates.

    In another video that circulates on social networks, black smoke is evident around one of the courtyards, the product of a fire that occurs inside the prison.

    So far, several ambulances have gone to the detention center and leave for nearby medical centers. According to the authorities, 3 uniformed soldiers are reported injured.

    Some relatives have released audios sent by inmates from inside the prison. They denounce abuse of power by Inpec and affirm that several inmates remain wounded.

    The mutiny does not stop and the Cúcuta Metropolitan Police controls the main access to the prison. The mobile riot squad intervened to contain the family members’ claims. The out-of-jail landscape is tense.

    “They are running us with tear gas, we need control entities. There is no presence of the Defensoría or Procuraduría, there are many abuses against the wives and mothers of the inmates, ”said Angela Ochoa, member of the Association of Family and Friends of the Prisoners of Cúcuta (Asofamintercuc).

    Last Saturday there was a riot that left four inmates and an injured guardian in Cúcuta. The event occurred simultaneously with excesses that occurred in other penitentiaries in Colombia.”

    24/3/20:

    Argentina, Concepcion (Entre Rios):

    https://berthoalain.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-emeute-a-la-prison-de-concepcion-entre-rios-24-mars-2020/

    “Inmates of Penitentiary Unit 4 of the Entre Ríos city of Concepción del Uruguay burned mattresses and carried out a riot on Tuesday that was controlled to demand “better sanitary conditions” and in rejection of the cancellation of family visits in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

    Despite the fact that shots had been heard, and that some prisoners had even climbed to the roof area, there were no injuries or escapes from inmates, police sources reported.

    The conflict originated in pavilion 1 of the southeast sector of the prison and continued in the rest of the facilities, where they threw stones, took control of the pavilions, burned mattresses, and climbed the walls.
    Related news

    Faced with this situation, police and prison personnel began a containment operation inside and outside the prison through “rubber bullet” shots.

    According to spokesmen from the Concepción Police Department of Uruguay, the inmates requested “better sanitary conditions” and asked for house arrest for the “prisoners at risk” of getting the coronavirus.

    They also protested the apparent decline in kitchen staff and the move to cancel family visits in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

    22/3/20:

    France, Rennes: prison riot

    “Sunday March 22, 2020 at around 4:30 p.m. during the second walk round of MA2, the detained people who were on their walk caused a mutiny by trying to break up the path of the walk.

    Immediately the alert “MUTINERIE” was triggered and the Rennes ERIS was called to intervene in the incident, in support of the intervention teams made up of each CPH building.

    When the alert was triggered, two teams, each equipped with a pump-action rifle, were set up around the MA2 promenade on the right courtyard (neutral zone) and in the walkway.

    One of the teams was obliged to make a warning shot to dissuade the mutineers from any damage to the fence and the intervention door of the promenade.
    When ERIS agents arrive at the establishment, once the detention center and related services had been secured, agents equipped with bomber suits were positioned in the hall of the MA2’s RCH to carry out reintegration of mutineers.

    As the two MA2 promenades were blocked, the management decided to start with the left course (there were 22 detainees).
    The detainees were brought back one by one to the cell by equipped CPH agents.
    One of the leaders of the left court was placed in prevention at the QD.

    Once the left court was reinstated, the ERIS had to reinstate the right court where there were 51 detainees. The MUTINEERS being much more virulent and refusing to be reinstated despite the warnings from the ERIS, the head of the ERIS made the decision to intervene on the promenade course to put an end to the mutiny.

    The detainees were then put back in cells one by one and 2 detainees who were particularly active in the mutiny were placed in prevention at the QD.

    Following the securing of the two jail buildings, all the agents (all bodies combined) present on the establishment proceeded to the distribution of meals in safety.

    The Director, the following day, made arrangements for the start of walks following the weakening of the intervention door of the right-hand promenade yard MA2.
    However, in view of the very tense climate prevailing in detention, we
    [ie the Force Ouvriere screws union] ask you to further reduce activities and therefore suppress all sports and close the entire detention center [ie to outsiders].”

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  • Song to be sung from windows and on balconies at 8pm:
    https://cie-joliemome.org/?p=7557

    Originally the 8pm cheering of hospital workers (in France, Belgium and elsewhere) was a spontaneous event, but has now been sanctioned and praised by the dominant media and the state. In Greece, the Prime Minister’s wife exhorted everyone to clap.
    This version is an attempt to claim it back for some margin of autonomous expression. It’s (for those who don’t know) a detournement of a French yellow vest song.

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  • Brazil:

    16/3/20:
    a massive jailbreak of São Paulo’s semi-open regime prisoners in several jails –

    https://ponte.org/prisoes-de-sp-promovem-maior-onda-de-rebelioes-desde-2006/

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  • Workers Launch Wave of Wildcat Strikes in USA as Trump Pushes for ‘Return to Work’ :

    https://itsgoingdown.org/workers-walk-off-job-coronavirus/

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  • CHINA NEWS

    China’s President Feeling The Pressure From Dissent in Own Party –
    https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/coronavirus-xijinping-03232020141057.html?

    “President Xi Jinping is under growing political pressure from within the ranks of the ruling Chinese Communist Party over his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
    An open letter circulating online since last week calls for an emergency, expanded meeting of the Politburo to discuss “Xi’s issues” and to decide if he should step down from his leadership of party, government and military.”

    Fears Grow For Chinese Student Who Told President to Step Down:
    https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/student-03312020092057.html?utm_source=HRIC+Updates&utm_campaign=456e616b33-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_04_11_54_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b537d30fde-456e616b33-259226909

    China Exonerates Late Whistleblowing Doctor Li Wenliang
    Radio Free Asia, March 20, 2020

    https://hrichina.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=be71fffd3e2fea33689a7d0d8&id=a62bebc94c&e=ab66737dda

    “China has exonerated late whistleblowing doctor Li Wenliang, who was hauled in for questioning by police, who accused him of ‘spreading rumors’ when he tried to alert the authorities about the emerging coronavirus epidemic in the central city of Wuhan. Police in Wuhan revoked a reprimand they issued to Li, who has since died from COVID-19, and apologized to his family for their treatment of him, official media said.

    “Li, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, had shared information from a patient’s medical records in a WeChat group on Dec. 30, showing signs of infection with a SARS-like coronavirus, the report said. Detained and reprimanded by police on Jan. 3 for spreading rumors, Li was among eight people to be detained and questioned in Wuhan over ‘rumor-mongering’ around the new disease.”

    南早:4.3万隐性”带毒者”中国未包括确诊数字之内 (SCMP: China has excluded 43,000 non-symptomatic coronavirus carriers from its number of confirmed cases)
    Radio France Internationale, March 23, 2020

    https://hrichina.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=be71fffd3e2fea33689a7d0d8&id=af7b324537&e=ab66737dda

    武汉七大殡仪馆骨灰盒数量暴露死亡人数 与官方死亡数字相差甚远 (Cremation urns at 7 Wuhan funeral homes show number of deaths far exceeding official figure)
    Radio Free Asia, March 27, 2020 –

    https://hrichina.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=be71fffd3e2fea33689a7d0d8&id=6a894d6150&e=ab66737dda

    学者:武汉或有近六成感染病例未被发现 (Scholar: Nearly 60% of infected cases in Wuhan have not been detected)
    Deutsche Welle, March 26, 2020 –
    https://hrichina.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=be71fffd3e2fea33689a7d0d8&id=d2e6f0e27b&e=ab66737dda

    Chinese web vigilantes name and shame people for breaking coronavirus quarantine
    South China Morning Post, March 20, 2020 –
    https://hrichina.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=be71fffd3e2fea33689a7d0d8&id=d556570275&e=ab66737dda

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  • Italy becoming impatient with lockdown – social unrest is brewing

    https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-italy-becoming-impatient-with-lockdown-and-social-unrest-is-brewing-11965122

    **
    https://www.abc.es/sociedad/abci-graves-tensiones-italia-primeros-saqueos-supermercados-y-llamadas-rebelion-202003281411_noticia.html
    Google translate:
    “Serious tensions in southern Italy: first looting in supermarkets and calls for rebellion
    Citizens in difficulty due to the crisis launch aggressive messages on social networks, with calls for revolt

    The health emergency is also becoming, as feared, a social emergency in southern Italy: Fearful social protests are feared and the first looting has begun, forcing supermarkets to equip themselves with special vigilance. A cry of alarm emerges strongly from the south, echoed by Italian mayors and Italian intelligence services warning the government: “The people are hungry.” The signals are many and dramatic, turning viral in a few hours. One of them is a video of a father and his daughter biting a slice of bread with Nutella; In a threatening tone he addresses Prime Minister Conte and the Mayor of Palermo in a threatening tone: “If my daughter will not be able to eat a piece of bread, we will storm the supermarkets.”

    Precisely in Palermo, an organized group of twenty people appeared, before the boxes of a Lidl supermarket – in Viale Regione, one of the largest and most frequented in Palermo – with their carts full of products, refusing to pay while shouting : «Enough of being at home, we don’t have money to pay, we have to eat». The employees of the supermarket called the police and police, while panic spread among the large public waiting in the street, queuing with a safety distance of one meter between people. The chaos went on for hours. To avoid the worst, law enforcement agencies are watching today to protect supermarkets in Palermo and other cities.
    Calls to revolts

    Calls to revolt spread like wildfire on social media. The profile of a group called “Noi” has been opened on Facebook, which encourages the revolt with a slogan: “Take back what is taken from us.” Within hours, he had hundreds of followers, some of whom are organized via chat. Their messages leave no room for doubt. There are those who say: “Those who are ready for war on the 3rd (date foreseen for the end of the emergency, although it is certain that the government will decree an extension), must write it down here”, “we must break all the supermarkets ». Another writes: “The problem is immediate, the children must eat.”

    Alexander’s message is similar: «I don’t wait for April, I am without a euro, my family must eat». Many play videos, showing their identity, calling for social revolt, making their own children see. Luky shouts in one of those videos: «At home there may be those who have a fixed salary, if we must be locked up, the State has to bring us food and must pay the rent, we are not Cristiano Ronaldo: Here three quarters of Italians works in black; Rebel! ». According to a recent study by the CGIL (main Italian union), in Palermo and province one worker in three works in black.
    Robberies on the street

    The call for looting of supermarkets is not only in Sicily, it extends to other places in the south. In that half of Italian territory, the underground economy employs almost four million people. In Campania, particularly in some areas of the province of Naples, robberies on the street have increased, with people removing bags with products that some customers have just bought in supermarkets. Rare is the day where in some southern provinces there is no assault on a pharmacy. There are people who shout their anguish and hunger from the balcony: In Bari, the capital of Apulia, the Minister for Social Affairs, Francesca Bottaloci, had to personally appear to bring two packages of basic necessities to a family she had placed in social networks a video screaming from the balcony of his house: «We no longer have money, we have nothing. Come see it ».

    The so-called 007, the information service, has produced a confidential report sent to Prime Minister Conte and Interior Minister Lamorgese with this warning: «There is a potential danger of spontaneous and organized revolts and rebellions, especially in southern Italy , where the underground economy and the capillary presence of organized crime are two of the main risk factors ». It does not escape anyone that the mafias are always ready to take advantage of any explosive occasion. For mafia organizations, the coronavirus represents an optimal opportunity for their criminal businesses.

    That risk of the mafia warns the mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, who warns that organized crime will take advantage to lead the revolts. The alderman of the Sicilian capital asks the government to grant a survival income: «Alongside many who are living through this moment of very serious crisis with anguish but with dignity, there are groups of jackals and protest professionals who promote violent actions, characters and groups that show and claim their membership in the mafia. I ask all citizens to report them to the police authorities, “warns the mayor of Palermo.

    There are several council members who sound the alarm, including some from an area with high crime, Campania, where the Camorra considers that a golden opportunity presents itself. Ciro Buonajuto, mayor of Herculaneum, threatened by the camorra, has denounced: «We have a youth unemployment of 75%, who works in many cases in precarious employment; now I fear the economic and social effects: usury, drug trafficking, camorra business can spread … ».
    “Attentive to the south, it can explode”

    The unrest in the “Mezzogiorno” is echoed by the minister for the south, Peppe Provenzano, who in an interview today tells Repubblica: «Attentive to the south, it can explode. We must act quickly, the maintenance of democracy is at risk. You have to extend the income of citizenship ”(this is economic aid, around 550 euros on average, offered by the State to those who do not have a job).

    In this context of a very serious crisis caused by the coronavirus, the dramatic speech that the President of the Republic, Giorgio Mattarella, addressed to the country on Friday night, is also explained: “We are living a sad page of our history. We have seen images that will be impossible to forget. Some territories, and particularly the older generations, are paying a steep price. Europe must understand the seriousness of the threat, or it will be too late. Further common initiatives are indispensable – added Mattarella-, overcoming old schemes that are already out of the reality of the dramatic conditions in which our Continent finds itself ».

    The well-known Italian scientist Silvio Garatini has said these days: «The meaning of life comes before the meaning of business. But someone has reversed the priorities. ” Thinking of Europe, a diplomat said it in other words: “When you count the dead, you don’t count the billions.”

    And a more general text on Italy:
    https://plagueandfire.noblogs.org/a-walk-on-the-edge-a-jump-to-nowhere/

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  • India:
    https://scroll.in/article/957166/coronavirus-lockdown-narendra-modi-has-cut-indias-poor-adrift?fbclid=IwAR1cgc3jx3hlF0_Scm9EHJ09d4APY-u8pbHaVePmtk15wqLDx7WiyfohPcw

    “the young man, sobbing because there was no way home, and no way to escape police batons, who asked, “How will we go, we can’t go by flight, can we?”… working men. They are trying to get home from a hostile city that has downed shutters on them, taken away their work or jobs and their incomes, and provided them no comfort. They are walking to the villages and kasbas they come from because the government of India cancelled all trains, state governments declared curfews and closed their borders, stopping buses, trucks or any other form of transport public or private – in order to stop them going home because there is a possibility that they may carry the contagion further….a series of ill-thought out, poorly timed reactive measures that have hit the most vulnerable the hardest. Factories and establishments were shut down, and construction ground to a halt. …Migrant workers decided to go home. The prime minister had asked people to stay home, and home was where they were going. They thronged railway stations and clambered on any train going towards home. Videos of masses of men leaving on impossibly packed trains from Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu went viral. The ones on the trains were the lucky ones. Those who did not make it on to those trains are now stuck in a limbo – at shut down bus and railway stations far away from home, with no jobs, no money and no roof over their heads and far from their families….Going home is also what the 15 lakh Indian’s abroad who flew back were doing. The big difference was that the government bent over backwards to help the flyers. There were special flights, exceptions made to allow flights to land despite announced closures, and even special dispensation visas issued. These were people bringing more of the contagion into India. But they were Indian citizens, or families of Indian citizens, and they had a right to be home with their own….Migrant workers in India always head home when they have no prospect of work….This time it is not just the loss of work and pay, but also a fear of being sick and dying among strangers, that is driving migrant workers home…It was clear from the prime minister’s first fatuous speech to the nation on the coronavirus crisis that these men and their families did not figure in his world. He spent 30 minutes talking about the need to practice “social distancing”, without addressing the problem of overcrowded housing, and livelihoods dependent on close contact. He made a half suggestion that people might continue to pay their casual and contractual employees even if they could not come to work, but offered nothing, not even hollow assurances, of government support to the workers should this not happen. When he addressed the nation for the second time, on Tuesday, it was in the same vein. This time he said, “Stay where you are.” For thousands of people, this means staying at bus stations, waiting for buses that will not come,or at empty railway stations, or on streets and highways. They will have to live on the generosity of civil society organisations, who Modi said in passing were taking care of the poor. The government, he appeared to say, had no responsibility to anyone who could not afford an aeroplane ticket….”

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  • Report from Israel (Google translate from Hebrew):

    “…In Jerusalem, two large population groups, the Palestinians and the ultra-Orthodox, face unique difficulties in the Corona struggle: from population overcrowding and poor infrastructure, through distrust and long-standing patterns of lack of cooperation between local authorities and residents, to an awareness problem due to lack of access to government information.

    How to deal with “social distancing” in the most crowded neighborhoods in Jerusalem? What to do in prayer? What do families with more than ten households do? How to deal with suspicion about the Israeli establishment? How do you disseminate information to those who are not exposed to institutional communication?

    Information about the impact of the Corona crisis in the east of the city is constantly flowing to a peoples city staff. These are some of the voices we’ve heard in recent days:

    A, an employee of the East Jerusalem health system, expressed grave concern that the rate of infection in East Jerusalem is far greater than reported, indicating a number of failures in treating residents. Patients say that when they contacted MDA and the emergency services received no response in Arabic and were unable to obtain information and instructions. When suspicion of infection took a long time to conduct the test, and even after being diagnosed in the east, epidemiological investigation was not required, so people who did not come in contact with patients Know about it.

    Monir Abu Ashraf, chairman of Kfar Aqab’s residents across the fence, reported to us that the water shortage problem makes life difficult in closure and cleanliness. 60,000 residents of Kfar Aqab – a Jerusalem neighborhood outside the Separation Wall – have been suffering from severe infrastructure problems for years. One of the serious problems is irregular supply of water; the water flows at most one day or two a week, the quantity is insufficient for the residents and the water pressure is not high enough. Now that the danger of contamination requires excessive cleaning, the water problem is threatening. Become a catastrophe.

    D. from the Shuafat refugee camp told of the big panic that gripped the residents following the announcement of the government’s intention to close the checkpoints and prevent residents of the Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the separation fence from entering the Israeli side of the fence. “People don’t know what to do if that happens. Think about moving to relatives inside the fence.” In the meantime, there has been no change and movement in crossings is possible.

    Residents of the Issawiya neighborhood report to us the daily police raids in the neighborhood that continue in the midst of the current era and the false arrests, mostly of minors, daily. If the tension and fear is not enough in the days when the corona supplies us with its own rations, the friction created by the police with the residents results in mass crowds that endanger public health.

    This is what Noa Degoni, a policy development coordinator in the city of Amim and an activist in the Free Jerusalem group writes:

    “I called a friend in Issawiya to ask for his peace and hear more about today’s events. I asked if he and his family were able to gather in and guard themselves, be careful. In response, he said: Day by day the restrictive guidelines in trying to deal with a crisis of the kind that most of us have not known in our lifetime, and we the people on this part of the country make the best efforts to adapt to the realities of mental, economic and health challenges whose scope we do not yet know – the police and occupation are not for the moment confused. Ex-territory, the general These are only a repressive force. ”

    For the full article in “Local Talk”: bit.ly/Issawiacorona

    Even in the tense arena of the Temple Mount / Haram a Sharif, we have seen how the Israeli police are increasing the tension rather than reducing it. As some residents have reported to us, the steps taken by the police to reduce Muslim worshipers’ access to the mountain while allowing continued visits by Jewish temple activists have raised concerns about changing the status quo under the cover of the Corona crisis. The agreement reached by the Israeli and Jordanian governments to close the Temple Mount / Haram a-Sharif to the general public during the crisis was an important move to reduce tensions and prevent infection.

    And there is also the economic matter. A large proportion of East Jerusalem residents live below the poverty line, and savings are nothing to talk about. Under such circumstances, dismissal or exit from the USSR is a real financial danger. Members of the WAC organization, who accompany workers and job seekers, report flooding in East Jerusalem inquiries that find it difficult to exercise their rights because the Employment and Social Security websites are not accessible in Arabic.

    WAC recruits volunteers and Arabic-speaking volunteers and volunteers to help the laid off against the Employment and Social Security Service. If you would like to volunteer, you can send a Wetsap message to 050-7596492 or call 02-6280173

    Alongside the many difficulties, municipal, government, and civil society measures are currently being taken to assist the East Jerusalem public during the crisis, whether with access to services, support for the extraction of socio-economic rights and distribution of food baskets and laptops; These moves are unmistakable cooperation from East Jerusalem civil society.

    The coming period raises serious concerns about the consequences of the emerging crisis. Dealing with it will require multiple efforts, creativity and new collaborations, and we hope that the latest moves herald a greater commitment by the authorities to provide widespread assistance to East Jerusalem residents.

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  • UK:
    The London Times has reported on a private event held at the end of February at which government advisor Dominic Cummings explained the UK’s coronavirus response. Those present summarised his position as “herd immunity, protect the economy, and if that means some pensioners die, too bad.” A senior Conservative source described his view as “let old people die.” – https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-ten-days-that-shook-britain-and-changed-the-nation-for-ever-spz6sc9vb

    Government denies this (well, they would, wouldn’t they?):
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/22/no-10-denies-claim-dominic-cummings-argued-to-let-old-people-die

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  • Sweden:

    https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-why-hasnt-sweden-gone-into-lockdown-over-covid-19-pandemic-11966132

    I should mention – perhaps obviously – that though I put up lots of links to some of the contradictory aspects of this crisis, that doesn’t mean I don’t have many reservations, to say the least, about some of these articles.

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