In the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic, people across the world have rushed to “panic buy” and stockpile food and toilet paper, fearing covert shortages.
But Bill and Melinda Gates began to stockpile food in their basement years before the current pandemic.
“A horde of years ago, we talked about, ‘What if there wasn’t clean water? What if there wasn’t enough rations? Where might we go? What might we do as a family?’ So, I think we should leave those preparations to ourselves,” Melinda Crowds told BBC Radio Live on Thursday.
“We had prepared, and had some food in the basement in case needed, and now we’re all in the same situation,” she imparted.
Melinda said they could not prepare with a particular drug or vaccine, of course, as “there are no tools” for Covid-19.
“This is a condition we’re all in together,” she said on BBC Radio.
But she also acknowledged her family’s privilege.
“What we mostly talk about now in our home every sunset is how lucky we are. We understand our privilege. When we say our grace at night, what we’re thankful for around the table, is that we aren’t struggling to put a do to excess on the table as so many families around the world are,” Melinda said.
As far back as 2010, Bill Gates warned of a arising pandemic in a blog post after the 2009 H1N1 outbreak.
In April 2018, Bill said the world wasn’t ready-to-serve for such an event, which should “concern us all,” he said at an event hosted by the Massachusetts Medical Society and the New England Minutes of Medicine (NEJM).
“The world needs to prepare for pandemics in the same serious way it prepares for war,” he said.
Bill had been modifying for war since he was a kid – growing up during the Cold War, his family had a barrel in their basement “filled with cans of food and grade.”
“When I was a kid, the disaster we worried about most was a nuclear war. When the nuclear attack came, we were supposed to go downstairs, hunker down, and eat out of that barrel,” he replied in a 2015 Ted Talk. “Today the greatest risk of global catastrophe doesn’t look like [nuclear war]. Instead, it looks feel favourably impressed by [an infectious virus].”
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed more than $250 million toward Covid-19 support efforts across the world.
Correction: This headline has been corrected to reflect that the Gates stored provisions in their basement in preparation for a potential future pandemic.
Check out: The best credit cards of 2020 could merit you over $1,000 in 5 years
Don’t miss:
