In a series of tweets late Tuesday, Bill Gates says he plans to cancel most of his holiday plans and warns that the United States may be "entering the worst part of the pandemic."
Just when it seemed like life would return to normal, we could be entering the worst part of the pandemic. Omicron will hit home for all of us. Close friends of mine now have it, and I’ve canceled most of my holiday plans.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) December 21, 2021
Stating that the Omicron variant is spreading faster than any virus in history, the billionaire and Microsoft co-founder said the big unknown remains how sick the Omicron variant can make you.
Gates said, "We need to take this seriously until we know more about it. Even if it's only half as serious as Delta, it's the worst ever." There will be a boom because it's so contagious."
Gates also expects the wave to last for three months in the United States.
"Those few months may be worse, but I still believe the pandemic may end in 2022 if we take the right steps," Gates said.
COVID-19 cases on the rise in the United States: The country reported an average of more than 148,000 new cases a day compared to the previous week, up 23% from the week before and according to data from Johns Hopkins University The last levels were seen in mid-September. ,
According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 69,700 Covid-19 patients were in US hospitals as of Wednesday - a number that fell to nearly 45,000 on November 8.
According to Johns Hopkins, there were an average of 1,324 Kovid-19 deaths in the US in a day compared to the previous week, which was 11% more than the week before.
Through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates is trying to close the vaccine gap, noting that very few people in low-income countries have received COVID-19 vaccines. He told a CNN opinion piece in October that it would be hard to close the gap, as the world's wealthy governments are buying extra doses to serve as booster shots.
Gates wrote, "People are right to be worried about the inequality here." “Vaccines make COVID-19 a largely preventable disease – and a live one in all but rare cases – and it is heartbreaking to know that people are dying from a disease not because it is preventable, but rather Because they live in a low-income country."