Saturday (April 11th): Bill told you

Bill Gates

Name? Bill Gates

Westphalian identity? United States

Age? 64

Why is he in the news? Gates has recently slammed world governments, saying they failed to properly prepare for this pandemic, even though some nations had the means to act months in advance. Gates has predicted a vaccine is about 18-months away, so in the meantime, countries of the world need to get their act together, because as of right now, very few places are getting an ‘A-grade’ for their response. 

Since 2015, Gates has echoed public health experts on the best methods to deal with global pandemics, aka COVID-19:

  • Widespread shutdown
  • More testing
  • Data-based approach to developing treatments and a vaccine 

Why do we care? Because we live in a globalized world. We are all interconnected throughout the globe and action needs to be collective. Gates is emphasising that no one has the ability to escape this. Hence why everyone needs to heed his advice. And we want this to be over!

Why should you care? You want this to be over as well, therefore, you expect good, fact-based, intuitive decision making by our leaders, preferably globally coordinated. 

Who else cares? Leaders across the globe want to see the coronavirus disappear. If one country has it, globalization has a way of making sure everyone is at risk of getting it. 

Any further comments? Bill Gates has warned us before about what to do during a pandemic and obviously we didn’t listen when preparing (or not preparing). We are now neck-deep in the coronavirus and need to listen to all types of experts across the world. Our increasingly globalized world has made containment efforts difficult and allowed for the spread beyond borders. While coordination during times of archaic behaviour is difficult (Europe, do you remember your thing?) it will be vital to coordinate efforts after the first wave has calmed down. But who are we lying to? If Turkish Presidents cannot coordinate with Turkish mayors, European allies make decisions based on personal interests, then how is the world supposed to coordinate among 196 countries (depends on how you count them)?