“We are still in danger of this pandemic creating a variant that would be even more contagious and even more deadly,” the billionaire Microsoft co-founder and public health adviser told the Financial Times on Sunday. “It’s not possible, I do not want to be the voice of destruction and gloom, but this pandemic is well above the 5% risk that we have not seen even the worst.” New Covid cases, powered by Covid’s Omicron strain BA.2 variant, are currently on the rise in the US: The country’s seven-day average of daily new cases in the U.S. is 54,429 as of Sunday, according to University data. Johns Hopkins. This is an increase of 9% over the previous week, with cases increasing in 39 states during this time. But Covid-related deaths are declining, resulting in Covid White House Tsar Dr. Ashish Jha, to say last month that he “does not worry too much right now” about BA.2. Instead, its spread is more of a reminder that Covid is still lurking – and as Gates notes, the virus could possibly mutate again, resulting in a strain of greater concern. For Gates, one lesson from the Covid pandemic so far is that precautionary planning and safeguards could help people better manage future pandemics. This is the main idea of his forthcoming book, “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic”, which will be published later this year. One proposal, he says, is for the World Health Organization to set up a global monitoring team, made up of experts who can quickly identify new health threats around the world and quickly coordinate with global governments to prevent future diseases from becoming contagious. in pandemics. Gates, who has described his proposed task force as the Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization (GERM) initiative, told the Financial Times that the idea would require significant financial investment from the WHO and its member states to create a global team of experts. including epidemiologists and virologists, and give them the tools they need to prevent and detect future cases. It is a plan that Gates previously unveiled at the TED 2022 conference in April, where he noted that the WHO would likely need to spend more than $ 1 billion a year on such a global response team. This is expensive, but the cost of another pandemic could be much higher. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that the Covid pandemic will cost the global economy more than $ 12.5 trillion by 2024. Meanwhile, more than 6.2 million people are believed to have died from the coronavirus worldwide. according to the WHO, and Gates has repeatedly said in recent years that people were not properly prepared for this pandemic. “I think it’s crazy that we could not see this tragedy and not make these investments on behalf of the people of the world,” Gates told the Financial Times on Sunday. The line echoed a comment he made at the TED conference in April: “We have to spend billions to save trillions.” Among the proposed GERM team and other proposals from his forthcoming book – including combating misinformation and making vaccines more affordable worldwide – Gates said his goal for 2022 was to “make sure Covid-19 is the latest pandemic “. And while warning that we should not be complacent about Covid’s continuing dangers, the billionaire also expressed optimism that the coronavirus would be more manageable by this summer – saying in January that ideally most Americans would eventually face him as Covid “Seasonal flu.” Sign up now: Become smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter Dont miss: Bill Gates’s high goal for 2022: Ensuring that “Covid-19 is the last pandemic” Bill Gates: “Conspiracy theories that sadly concern me” keep many Americans from Covid vaccines
