[ad_1]
The co-founder of the giant Microsoft has been warning the world about the dangers of a possible pandemic since 2014, when the main danger on this front was Ebola.
Billionaire Bill Gates has been drawing the attention of world governments to the dangers of a global pandemic for years, but his efforts have not been enough, as the Covid-19 pandemic has shocked every country in the world without being prepared.
“I wish I had done more to emphasize the danger. I feel terrible. The only reason we spoke was to urge them to take steps to minimize the impact,” billionaire Bill Gates told the Wall Street Journal.
More than 6 years
The co-founder of the giant Microsoft has been warning the world about the dangers of a possible pandemic since 2014, when the main danger on this front was Ebola.
The following year, Gates delivered a TED speech in which he classified the danger of an infectious disease as greater than that of nuclear war. He wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that “the epidemic is one of the few catastrophes that could affect humanity on a large scale in the coming decades.”
He tried to lead this discussion in all the circles of power he reached, at every meeting with a global leader, even when he met with Donald Trump in 2016, then newly elected president.
But Gates says it has been difficult trying to persuade politicians to spend large sums of money on something that is not an immediate threat.
However, he told the WSJ that he regretted not pushing him further.
“I want my warnings and those of others to lead to a better prepared and coordinated global response. My hope now is that leaders around the world, responsible for protecting citizens, learn from this tragedy and invest in systems to prevent future epidemics, “said Bill Gates.
The Gates Foundation has donated $ 305 million in the fight against Covid-19 so far, and Gates says he will invest much more at the end of the pandemic.
Gates’ firm stance on the subject made him a target for conspiracy theorists.
Gates was one of those who supported the total quarantine measures to stop the spread of the virus and estimated in April that the world would return in June to what would be a normal variant.
Two weeks later, Bill Gates’ optimism faded, as he was “very concerned” about a second wave of the pandemic that would hit the United States when states began to relax social distancing rules and reopen stores.
[ad_2]
