Bill Gates claims that he has canceled “most”of his holiday plans due to the Omicron variant.
Gates took to Twitter on Tuesday to write about the variant, saying: “Just when it seemed like life would return to normal, we could be entering the worst part of the pandemic. Omicron will hit home for all of us”
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He continued: “Close friends of mine now have it, and I’ve cancelled most of my holiday plans.”
Gates did not get much sympathy, as Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce tweeted. “Announcing a sacrifice that means nothing while promoting more of the same fear and hysteria that is shutting down businesses, killing jobs & destroying sobriety & mental health”.
The Independent report that they have reached out to Mr Gates for comment on what plans he’s cancelling, and what plans he’s carrying through.
The entrepreneur, whose Bill & Melinda Gates foundation is a significant global funder of public health and Covid response, said the virus is “spreading faster than any virus in history”, even though it was only discovered last month and is still being studied by scientists to understand its basic characteristics.
“If there’s good news here, it’s that Omicron moves so quickly that once it becomes dominant in a country, the wave there should last less than three months,” Mr Gates added. “Those few months could be bad, but I still believe if we take the right steps, the pandemic can be over in 2022.”
The coronavirus hasn’t stopped the Gates family from partying in the past.
In October, the recently divorced Melinda and Bill were spotted at their daughter’s wedding, a bash on a farm in Westchester County, New York, rumoured to cost at least $2 million.
Niamh Harris