‘We Should’ve Done More’: Bill Gates Says U.S. Was Too Slow on COVID-19, Shutdown Now Unavoidable
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Tuesday morning that the U.S. acted too slowly and missed its chance to avoid mandatory stay-at-home orders to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, saying that "everybody should have taken notice back in January" when the first case was detected in Washington state.
"There's the period between where we realized it was transmitting and now where we should've done more," Gates said during a video discussion with Chris Anderson of TED, a non-profit organization that hosts talks and online communities.
Bill Gates is leaving Microsoft's board, 45 years after co-founding the company with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Gates also announced that he is stepping down from the board of Berkshire Hathaway, led by his friend and philanthropic partner Warren Buffett.
The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy and other federal agencies today met with Amazon, Microsoft and other tech industry leaders to kick off a campaign aimed at getting the best information about coronavirus out to researchers and the general public.