He was sort of saying …
He was trying to say …
He was saying …

There’s been a uptick in cases
There’s been a surge in cases

They maybe opened a little bit early
They opened too early

I’m not a big proponent of …
I don’t like …

She seems to do …
She does …

I tend to disagree
I might not agree
I disagree

I’m inclined to agree
It seems somewhat reasonable to me
I agree

I would hate to say anything about … that would be perceived as negative
I’m critical of …

He’s almost sending a message
He’s sending a message

It doesn’t seem that it’s happening
It’s not happening

(In response to a yes/no question)
Not exactly
I don’t think so
I’m going to say probably not
No
I think so
Most likely
If you look at all the factors here, you see that an analysis is difficult
Yes

I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant
I didn’t understand what he meant

She should have, I think
She should have

His words, frankly, seemed out of touch with reality
His words were out of touch with reality

We have come to a stage where we cannot help but consider things including postponement
We’re thinking about postponing

In the coming weeks
Seven to ten weeks from now

I think it’s fair to say that there will be an impact
There will be an impact

It’s fatal
People will die