Coronavirus: This is what is required for life to return to normal, according to Bill Gates

Gates has been at the forefront of this virus and has been very vocal about it, granting interviews to discuss the effect of the virus on countries and humans.

Now, as countries are preparing to lift their lockdown, Gates has revealed four things that are needed for things to return to normal.

Gates released the list ahead of his Thursday night CNN Town Hall interview with White House Infectious disease expert Dr Fauci.

“People can go out, but not as often, and not to crowded places,” Gates wrote about lockdowns. “Picture restaurants that only seat people at every other table and airplanes where every middle seat is empty.”

He revealed that he believes schools will reopen but stadiums won’t. “The basic principal should be to allow activities that have a large benefit to the economy or human welfare, but pose a small risk of infection,” Gates said.

He added in a separate piece he wrote for The Economist that while it feels like the world has gone through a lot right now, when historians are writing about the virus, what we are going through right now will only make up the first third.

“The bulk of the story will be what happens next,” he wrote. “Even if governments lift shelter-in-place orders and businesses reopen their doors, humans have a natural aversion to exposing themselves to disease. Airports won’t have large crowds. Sports will be played in basically empty stadiums. And the world economy will be depressed because demand will stay low.”

Life will only return to normal when most of the population is vaccinated, Gates added, although he believes that could take awhile. He said that he hopes that one will be in mass production by the second half of 2021.

“If that’s the case, it will be a history-making achievement: the fastest humankind has ever gone from recognizing a new disease to immunizing against it,” Gates wrote.

Since the Coronavirus outbreak started in Wuhan, China in January, the virus has spread to over 200 countries and claimed over 200 thousand lives.