Bill Gates: Pandemic is ‘nightmare scenario,’ but national response can reduce casualties
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has called the coronavirus pandemic a “nightmare scenario”, but was optimistic the number of fatalities could be reduced.
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, who warned five years ago that the world’s greatest threat was a pandemic, believes that the current coronavirus crisis is “a nightmare scenario,” but said social distancing and a strong national response can keep casualties lower than the numbers projected by US President Donald Trump.
Mr Gates shared his views on the TV show Fox News Sunday.
Mr Trump had predicted last week that the US could see between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths from COVID-19 before the outbreak is under control.
“Well, if we do the social distancing properly, we should be able to get out of this with the death number well short of that,” Mr Gates told Fox News, saying that the disruptions to everyday life have been key to keeping the pandemic from being even worse.
“This is a nightmare scenario because human-to-human transmittal respiratory viruses can grow exponentially,” he said.
“And you know, if we had kept on going to work, travelling like we were, you know, that curve would never bend until you had the majority of the people infected and then a massive number seeking hospital care and lots of lots of deaths.”
Mr Gates suggested the response should be on a national, not state or local level.
So far, it has been state governors who have led the charge, in some cases claiming that their populations are not being properly served by federal government in Washington.
“Well, when you have finite resources you need to allocate them to where there’s the most need,” Mr Gates said. “Certainly because people move around the country, we have to have the shutdown or else you’ll have exponential growth [in the virus]. It will spread back into other parts of the country.”
Source: https://www.news.com.au/world/bill-gates-pandemic-is-nightmare-scenario-but-national-response-can-reduce-casualties/news-story/93385ae350b061360523b9ded1705c0e