Coronavirus Update: Bill Gates Proposes Global Solutions To Fight COVID-19

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the largest and most generous private foundation in the world with $46.8 billion in assets, has initially donated over $100 million to fight the virulent COVID-19 epidemic currently rampaging through more than 60 countries and territories.

In addition to this first installment, BMGF is tapping the vast resources of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). This global organization founded in January 2017 by a coalition of governments and nonprofit groups led by BMGF is tasked with more quickly developing vaccines against infectious disease threats worldwide.

This infectious disease threat now includes the novel coronavirus. As of late Sunday evening, there were 76 confirmed COVID-19 cases and two deaths in the U.S. Worldwide, confirmed cases came to 89,073 of which 80,026 are in mainland China. There are 3,044 deaths globally.

In a lengthy analysis published February 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Gates sought to drive home the point it's vital to "solve the immediate problem and keep it from happening again."

His op-ed, "Responding to Covid-19 -- A Once-in-a-Century Pandemic?," describes his views on this global threat while presenting doable solutions. Gates pointed out the long long-term challenge facing the medical community remains improving the world's ability to respond to outbreaks. He rightly says global health experts "have been saying for years that another pandemic whose speed and severity rivaled those of the 1918 influenza epidemic was a matter not of if but of when." This is COVID-19 in his view.

"In the past week, COVID-19 has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we've been worried about," wrote Gates. "I hope it's not that bad, but we should assume it will be until we know otherwise."

He says there are two reasons COVID-19 is such a threat. The first is, this coronavirus can kill healthy adults in addition to elderly people with existing health problems. COVID-19's case fatality rate is about 1%, which makes it many times deadlier than typical seasonal influenza.

The second reason is COVID-19 "is transmitted quite efficiently. The average infected person spreads the disease to two or three others -- an exponential rate of increase." Gates also noted strong evidence the disease can be transmitted by people who are just mildly ill or even presymptomatic.

"That means Covid-19 will be much harder to contain than the Middle East respiratory syndrome or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which were spread much less efficiently and only by symptomatic people."

Gates suggested several solutions that might slow the relentless spread of COVID-19 worldwide. He noted that wealthy countries must supply low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with trained healthcare workers to monitor the virus' spread.

"By helping African and South Asian countries get ready now, we can save lives and slow the global circulation of the virus ... It’s essential to help LMICs strengthen their primary health care systems," Gates wrote.

He also suggested accelerating work on vaccines, "by drawing on libraries of compounds that have already been tested for safety and by applying new screening techniques ... to identify antivirals that could be ready for large-scale clinical trials within weeks."

Among other COVID-19 solutions he proposed are having an international database that is "instantly accessible" to organizations and countries to acquire and share information. He also believes funding for medical and vaccine facilities to speed up testing.

"Governments and other donors will need to fund — as a global public good — manufacturing facilities that can generate a vaccine supply in a matter of weeks."

He pointed out BMGF has committed substantial resources in recent years to helping the world prepare for such a scenario.