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Bill Gates Tells Trump: Stop Stoking Coronavirus Miracle Cure Rumors

The billionaire, who urged leaders to prepare for a pandemic years ago, has some advice for the president.

Bill Gates has helpfully provided President Donald Trump with a three-step plan on what he needs to do to halt the coronavirus pandemic—and has told him that he really needs to stop spreading rumors about a miracle cure. The Microsoft founder, who urged leaders to prepare for a pandemic back in 2015, laid out his advice in The Washington Post. He said the U.S. needs a complete shutdown in all states, must step up testing, and has to start work now to speed up the development of a vaccine. Gates said that includes immediately beginning work to build the facilities where a vaccine would be manufactured. He also criticized Trump for spreading rumors about malaria medication that the president has repeatedly name-checked as a coronavirus treatment. Gates wrote: “Leaders can help by not stoking rumors or panic buying. Long before the drug hydroxychloroquine was approved as an emergency treatment for COVID-19, people started hoarding it, making it hard to find for lupus patients who need it to survive.”