- Bill Gates posted a Twitter thread about the Omicron variant.
- The billionaire said he's canceled his holiday plans and is prepared for a rough few months.
- The pandemic could still end in 2022 if we take the right steps, like masking up and getting vaccinated.
Bill Gates said he's canceled "most"of his holiday plans due to the Omicron variant.
"Just when it seemed like life would return to normal, we could be entering the worst part of the pandemic," Gates wrote in a Twitter thread about the variant.
"Omicron will hit home for all of us. Close friends of mine now have it, and I've canceled most of my holiday plans," he continued.
But the billionaire also said he believes the current wave of the pandemic will be over by March of next year because the new coronavirus variant spreads so quickly. Once Omicron moves through the population, we'll have an opportunity to recover from the winter surge.
"Those few months could be bad, but I still believe if we take the right steps, the pandemic can be over in 2022," he said.
Other public health experts have predicted that Omicron will peak in January. The variant is spreading at an "unprecendented" pace, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Good Morning America Tuesday. But that speediness could eventually turn the tide against the virus.
"When you have something that goes up this quickly, often you see it come right back down," Fauci told GMA. "Because what will happen is that either almost everyone is either going to get infected, particularly the unvaccinated, or be vaccinated," he said.
Gates predicted that Omicron will soon "be in every country in the world" if it keeps spreading at this pace. At the time of publication, the variant accounts for 73% of all COVID-19 cases in the US.
'We need to take it seriously'
The billionaire warned that Omicron is not something to be taken lightly, especially when we don't yet know how much severe illness the variant will cause.
"We need to take it seriously until we know more about it," he wrote. "Even if it's only half as severe as Delta, it will be the worst surge we have seen so far because it's so infectious."
Gates encouraged his followers to "look out for each other" by doing things like wearing masks, avoiding large gathering and indoor crowds, and getting the vaccine and booster shots.
"Someday the pandemic will end, and the better we look after each other, the sooner that time will come."
—Bill Gates (@BillGates) December 21, 2021
The Omicron variant is quickly spreading throughout the US and currently makes up nearly three-quarters of new cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.