Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that it could be 18 months before the coronavirus pandemic will not impact Americans’ daily lives.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “When do you think life will fully return to what we thought of as normal back in January, no masks, no social distancing, no other protective measures necessary?”
Gates said, “Certainly, by the summer will be way closer to normal than we are now, but even through early 2022, unless we help other countries get rid of this disease and we get high vaccinations rates in our country, the risk of reintroduction will be there and, of course, the global economy will be slowed down, which hurts America economically in a pretty dramatic way. So we will have, starting in the summer, about nine months where a few things like big public gatherings will still be restricted. But we can see now that somewhere between 12 to 18 months, we have a chance, if we manage it well, to get back to normal.”
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