Anthony Fauci assures Bill Gates the coronavirus crisis 'is going to end'
On Gates' new podcast with Rashida Jones, he also compares those who refuse to wear masks to nudists.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Bill Gates and Rashida Jones interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci on their new podcast.
Slogging through the daily challenges of living in a world gripped by COVID-19, it can be hard to imagine an end to the coronavirus crisis. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, assured Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates Monday that the world will get there. Gates and actor and activist Rashida Jones interviewed Fauci on the first episode of their new podcast, Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions.
In our first podcast episode, Rashida Jones and I talked to Dr. Anthony Fauci about what to expect in the coming months and what the world will look like after COVID-19. https://t.co/JryaNOA9fb
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) November 16, 2020
Jones began the pair's podcast by admitting she's worried about the future, and Gates immediately responded with, "I actually think things will be all right." He went on to say that "the likelihood of many of these vaccines working is actually pretty high."
When Fauci joined the podcast, he reiterated that people will need to wear masks, wash hands frequently and social distance to get safely through the upcoming winter, and he discussed the challenges of successfully distributing a two-dose vaccine. But he ended on a positive note.
"I want to tell people, don't give up," Fauci said. "This is going to end. Science is going to help us with a vaccine and therapy, and if we pay attention to the public health measures, we can gain control of it. The thing you don't want to happen is that people said, 'I've done this so long. I'm tired of it. The heck with it. I'm just going to go out there and do what I want to do.'"
In other podcast highlights, Gates joked with Jones that one of the first things he wants to do after the pandemic is to hug singer Bono, saying, "We do a lot of our foundation work with Bono and he's always very affectionate and energetic."
Gates also compared anti-mask wearers to nudists.
"The idea that somebody's resisting wearing a mask, that is such a weird thing to me," he said. "I mean what are these, like, nudists? I mean, you know, what, we ask you to wear pants. And, you know, no American says, or very few Americans say that that's like some terrible thing."
You can listen to the entire podcast or read the transcript at GatesNotes.com.
