Bill Gates Says He’s Tested Positive for COVID-19

Bill Gates is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, the Microsoft co-founder said Tuesday on Twitter.

“I’ve tested positive for COVID,” Gates wrote in a tweet. “I’m experiencing mild symptoms and am following the experts’ advice by isolating until I’m healthy again.”

Gates added that he’s “fortunate to be vaccinated and boosted and have access to testing and great medical care.”

Gates’ announcement of his positive test result comes less than two weeks after he said during an interview with The Times of London that his wealth helped him and those closest to him avoid contracting the virus.

“I had perfect internet, large houses, a private plane with zero risk of infection,” he said during the May 1 interview. “I was able to see my kids.”

As the co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he’s spent billions of dollars to bring vaccines to the developing world, well before the coronavirus pandemic. And though Gates isn’t a scientist or a physician, earlier this year he answered a variety of questions about the coronavirus on Twitter.

Gates said the biggest scientific breakthrough that would help end the pandemic would be better and longer-lasting vaccines.

“The vaccines we have prevent severe disease and death very well but they are missing two key things,” he said during the January Q&A. “First they still allow infections (‘breakthrough’) and the duration appears to be limited. We need vaccines that prevent re-infection and have many years of duration.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how Gates contracted COVID-19.

Gates also tweeted that the foundation was meeting Tuesday for the first time in two years, but a spokesperson for the foundation told CNET that the meeting had been planned before Gates tested positive, adding that he attended the meeting virtually.

“We will continue working with partners and do all we can to ensure none of us have to deal with a pandemic again,” Gates said in a tweet.