[Politico] Bill Gates called out the federal government on Tuesday for inadequacies in coronavirus testing and sending out what he called "bad messages" on best practices, such as wearing masks.The billionaire philanthropist, whose foundation is the largest private underwriter of public health initiatives, said the U.S. still has time to do "far, far better" in its Covid-19 testing implementation, criticizing the government — without calling out the Trump administration explicitly — for long test-result wait times and poor contact tracing efforts.
"If you’re willing to admit that you’re not doing a perfect job, you could improve this thing very, very quickly," Gates said in a POLITICO Playbook interview. "Right now, testing, contact tracing, we’re doing among the worst of any country."
Gates went on to say that "now we’re engaged in something where we’re attacking the government’s top scientists" and "undermining the credibility of the person who’s the most knowledgeable," referring to Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert.