Bill Gates reveals the 6 unanswered questions he's pondering that are critical to understanding the coronavirus

• In part of a new blog post, Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates lays out six key unanswered questions about the novel coronavirus.
• We need to better understand their answers to be able to "help with tools and policies" necessary to overcome the pandemic.
• The questions include whether the virus is seasonal, what symptoms should indicate you get testing, and which populations are most vulnerable.
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Scientists and public health professionals have learned a lot about the novel coronavirus since the outbreak began, but many questions remain unanswered.

It's essential to fill these gaps in our understanding so we can best develop the "tools and policies" needed to overcome the pandemic, Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates wrote in a new blog post April 23. Gates is hopeful that many will be answered by summer, thanks to "impressive" global collaborations.

The questions are:

1. Is the disease seasonal? Dr. Anthony Fauci, among others, said he believes it might be. It seems not to be as weather-dependent as the seasonal flu is, but we can't yet be sure.
2. How many asymptomatic people are able to infect others?
3. Why do younger people seem to less susceptible to serious illness from the virus?
4. What symptoms should indicate testing is necessary?
5. Which activities — from touching doorknobs to going to church — cause the most risk of infection?
6. Who, down to gender, race, and underlying illnesses, is most vulnerable to COVID-19, the disease the coronavirus causes?

In the rest of his 11-page long post, Gates, who's funding vaccine research and global health efforts via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, laid out the five innovations he believes are necessary in order to conquer the pandemic.

"We are impressed with how the world is coming together to fight this fight," he wrote, noting that he and his wife, philanthropist Melinda Gates, talk daily to scientists, pharmaceutical company CEOs, and heads of government.

"And there are so many heroes to admire right now, including the health workers on the front line," he added. "When the world eventually declares Pandemic 1 over, we will have all of them to thank for it."

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