Bill Gates tests positive for COVID-19

Microsoft founder Bill Gates said on Tuesday that he tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms.

In a series of tweets, the billionaire shared that he was “lucky to be vaccinated” and will be isolating until he’s healthy again.

He added that the Gates Foundation is getting together on Tuesday for the first time since the pandemic began and said he will join via Microsoft Teams.

Gates said, “I am lucky to be on Teams to see everyone and thank them for their hard work.”

The philanthropist recently shared his concern that the worst of the pandemic had not yet occurred.

He told the Financial Times that “the current [World Health Organization] funding is not at all serious about pandemics.” 

Gates, who stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in 2014, has committed at least $1.75 billion to the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Reuters.

He first said he believed the world was vulnerable to a pandemic in 2015, years before countries came to a complete standstill due to COVID-19. He has since warned that there is the potential for another pandemic as a result of the high number of viruses in the world.

“There’s a lot of diseases out there,” he said in February. “We’ll have another pandemic. It will be another pathogen next time.”