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23 December 2024

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How to make up for lost time on COVID-19

Bill Gates is Co-founder of Microsoft and a Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The first few paragraphs of this opinion piece are taken from The Washington Post which has opened the full article for all to read.

Bill Gates gave a famous TED talk in 2015 called 'The next outbreak? We're not ready.' At the time, he said we need to put ideas into practice, from scenario planning to vaccine research to health worker training. "There's no need to panic ... but we need to get going", he said.

He was right and we ignored him. This is what he says now.

There’s no question the United States missed the opportunity to get ahead of the novel coronavirus. 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.

Through my work with the Gates Foundation, I’ve spoken with experts and leaders in Washington and across the country. It’s become clear to me that we must take three steps.

First, we need a consistent nationwide approach to shutting down. Despite urging from public health experts, some states and counties haven’t shut down completely. In some states, beaches are still open; in others, restaurants still serve sit-down meals.

This is a recipe for disaster. Because people can travel freely across state lines, so can the virus. The country’s leaders need to be clear: Shutdown anywhere means shutdown everywhere. Until the case numbers start to go down across America — which could take 10 weeks or more — no one can continue business as usual or relax the shutdown. Any confusion about this point will only extend the economic pain, raise the odds that the virus will return, and cause more deaths.

Second, the federal government needs to step up on testing. Far more tests should be made available. We should also aggregate the results ...

Read more...

The Washington Post is providing this story for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the coronavirus.

 

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