Bill Gates lays out three-point plan for US on brink of coronavirus catastrophe
- Gates introduced a three-point plan that includes a ‘consistent nationwide approach’ to lockdowns
- He urged leaders to help by ‘not stoking rumours or panic buying’
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, who urged world leaders to prepare for a pandemic situation in 2015, laid out a three-point plan on how the US could make it through the coronavirus pandemic.
Gates penned an op-ed for The Washington Post on Tuesday, making recommendations based on expert consultations he has had through his work with the Gates Foundation, which is funding research for a treatment for the virus, which causes a respiratory disease known as Covid-19.
“There's no question the United States missed the opportunity to get ahead of the novel coronavirus,” Gates wrote. “But the window for making important decisions hasn't closed.”
“The choices we and our leaders make now will have an enormous impact on how soon case numbers start to go down, how long the economy remains shut down and how many Americans will have to bury a loved one because of Covid-19.”
As of April 1, the coronavirus has infected nearly 190,000 in the US, and the countrywide death toll has surpassed 4,000.
Gates said the first point is calling for a “consistent nationwide approach” to lockdowns that are being imposed to contain the spread of the disease in the country. He called the fact that some states are not being shut down completely a “recipe for disaster”.