- Bill Gates resigned from the Microsoft board in March.
- Since then, he has focused more on philanthropy through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and has ensured that the world has equitable access to coronavirus vaccines and treatments.
- He told Insider that he’s also been making more time to play tennis lately and go for a walk in his suburban Seattle neighborhood, while wearing a mask.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Bill Gates doesn’t get out much these days.
For the most part, he spends his days at home near Seattle with his wife Melinda and their three children, Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe.
“I have a small group of people that I have spent time with,” since the coronavirus pandemic began, Gates told Insider.
No dinners, no big crowds.
Gates has spent the past 20 years zigzagging around the world, becoming one of the world’s greatest advocates of public health as a co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In March, he resigned from the Microsoft board to “spend more time on philanthropic priorities.”
In addition to continuing that work from home during the pandemic, he has been spending time with his family, going for a walk and playing some tennis and bridge. A hair has been cut.
‘Outdoors, at a distance, you can talk to a small group of people’
“I don’t have people in general,” Gates said, stressing that anyone who has come has been “isolated” during the pandemic.
“Some of these people, it’s really amazing,” he said. “They’ve been at their house for four months. And still, I don’t go anywhere near it.”
The home of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Dan Callister / Newsmakers via Getty Images
“There have been things where you are outdoors, at a distance, you can talk to a small group of people,” he said.
Members of the Gates family have faced their different levels of readiness to go out during the pandemic.
“We have three children and they are part of the family,” said Gates. “Because we see them, we often discuss exactly how careful they are.”
A photo of the Gates family, Bill Gates, posted to Facebook in 2017.
Bill Gates / Facebook
“For our most outgoing son, it has been a difficult time,” Gates said, not specifying whether he was referring to his oldest daughter, Jennifer, 24, or his youngest Phoebe, 17. “She still doesn’t think a video call is the equivalent of hanging out, and that’s understandable, but we’ve had to be pretty strict about exactly what kids do.”
Gates’ own socialization is largely limited to online bridge games (his favorite partner is Warren Buffett). He has also been reading and watching a lot of television (he and Melinda like “Million Little Things”, “This Is Us” and “Ozark”, according to a recent blog post).
Gates has started playing tennis again
Lately, he has rediscovered one of his favorite sports.
“Tennis was not allowed for a while,” he said.
But now he’s back in the game.
Roger Federer and Bill Gates in 2017.
Suzi Pratt / Getty Images
“I hope tennis is still OK. I don’t think any risks have been identified,” he said, stressing that he remains cautious about his games. “I mean, we don’t get close to each other, so even that is done in a rather specialized way.”
(Infectious disease experts recently rated tennis as a low to medium risk pandemic activity as long as you stay away from others while playing.)
Gates also goes out for an occasional walk around the neighborhood, but making sure to mask himself first.
“If I go for a walk, I have my mask,” he said. “Because you want people who pass by not to feel like you’re creating any risk for them. And I see, in my neighborhood, there’s hardly anyone we’ve walked through who isn’t wearing her mask.”
He believes that increased peer pressure, not masking the mandates, will be more effective in getting Americans to adhere to the disease-fighting measure.
Gates has had at least one haircut and at least one coronavirus test
Several months ago, when the Gates Foundation offices were still open and Gates was still holding face-to-face meetings, he became nervous that he may have contracted the virus and had a coronavirus test.
“I actually had the flu, and they vaccinated me,” Gates said. “I was in meetings when I coughed a little. So I was glad that test came back negative.”
Since then, he says he has not had any symptoms of illness, “and because the testing capacity is still limited, I go most of the time without testing,” he said.
But he made sure his barber had one before a recent cut.
“I went a long time without a haircut,” said Gates. “And then once they had the ways that they could wear masks and everything, eventually I had, I think, a haircut. And I used a mask, the man who cut my hair wore a mask, and he knew that his [COVID-19] state.”
You are not recommending everyone else to rush to trim yet.
“Some people have not had their hair cut at all, which looks good with long hair,” he said.
In addition to his personal activities, Gates has recently taken time to urge US lawmakers to put more funds into the Senate coronavirus stimulus bill to send vaccines and treatments to the world.
“Our foundation is trying to make sure that not only the wealthy, the wealthy in the United States or only the wealthy countries have access to these things,” he said.
