The article below by Bill Gates presents a very good and uplifting summary of what needs to be done to beat the Coronavirus. It should be read, understood and appreciated as to what makes America so great. A can-do attitude to problem solving, that leads to innovation, in the pursuit of remarkable solutions.

All of what Mr. Gates describes is a testament to his commitment and his foundation. These ideas have also been pursued by the work of President Trump's Task Force. Of course, no credit is given to the President here. But, that is to be expected from any story in The Washington Post.

But that is not the point. The point is that Mr. Gates, and politicians on the left, believes that all these efforts must be accomplished before we re-open the country. This is particularly evident in testing. Testing is not satisfactory unless we have at least 330 million tests. One for every US citizen.

Why do we need 330 million tests? No reasonable answer is provided other than 'then we will know where the problem is'. Not unless we continue to test those who did not test positive the first time. That means we will need more than 330 million tests. All for free as well, I guess?

Certainly we need testing capable of being given to everyone who needs it. But, we don't need 330 million tests, today! Any more than New York needed 40,000 ventilators or hospitals were going to be overrun with COVID-19 patients. Don't we know where the hot spots are now? With increasing availability of testing won't we be able to catch any new hot spots in the fall? Yes. We have gone from almost nothing in the way of testing to approaching 5 million tested. Outstanding! Our performance on testing a % of population (rank 42nd) illustrates our need to continue this impressive trajectory.

We are well on our way to getting all the tests we need, where we need then - now. With more available over the coming months, as Mr Gates points out is needed.

To wait to reopen the country until we test every American, have a vaccine and can guaranty no one will ever get the disease again, is foolish, dangerous and potentially catastrophic. Sacrifice 26M people, by today's count, for the 40,000 who have died. And continue on that track is a good thing in the misguided logic of the left.

We cannot any longer ignore the impact on the 26M. Governor Cuomo, in answer to this question yesterday said, this decision is about jobs vs death! That is patently untrue, 98% of those infected do not die! It also demonstrated his misguided judgement, ignorance of the data and lack of critical thinking in decision making.

How many more Coronavirus patients would have died if we tried to save the lives of these 26M other Americans? Don't know. Will more die of Coronavirus in the coming months anyway under aggressive closure by cities & states? Yes, we do know that. Will the 26M number grow and the situation for the 26M get worse? Yes, we know that too.

Granted, a difficult choice. Difficult situations require difficult choices. Difficult choices require thoughtful analysis by competent people and a decisive leader. We have both.

This is a 'lives for lives' decision. It is not, as the leftist media and politicians scream, a 'jobs for lives', 'money for lives' decision, or a death sentence. It is a 'lives for lives' decision.

A tough decision has to be made by someone for the benefit of everyone. And it has.

by B1ll Gates,

It’s entirely understandable that the national conversation has turned to a single question: “When can we get back to normal?” ... Unfortunately, although we have the will, we don’t have the way — not yet. Before the United States and other countries can return to business and life as usual, we will need some innovative new tools that help us detect, treat and prevent covid-19.

It begins with testing.

The second area where we need innovation is contact tracing.

Another type of drug candidate involves identifying the antibodies that are most effective against the novel coronavirus, and then manufacturing them in a lab.

we need to invest in a fourth area of innovation: making a vaccine.

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