In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $3.7 million to a Seattle-area public health agency, homeless service providers, several local foundations, and more.
This donation is part of a previous $5 million pledge to the Seattle region. The foundation will give $1 million to “Public Health — Seattle & King County,” to help the department distribute accurate and timely information,” along with setting up temporary housing for non-critical patients and those experiencing homelessness.
Additionally, the foundation will donate to six regional coronavirus response funds, including the Seattle Foundation fund, which received $500K from Melinda’s Pivotal Ventures investment company and another $1M from the Gates Foundation.
Gates said:
The pandemic feels like a universal experience, but we have to recognize that not all of us will experience it equally. By supporting local community response efforts, we can help make sure that, in this moment of crisis, we’re not leaving the most vulnerable behind.
That’s not all, the foundation also partnered with Amazon to deliver at-home COVID-19 test kits to citizens of Seattle in the Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network initiative. In February, the foundation said it would donate up to $100 million to curb the spread of the coronavirus that has infected around 607,965 people and killed nearly 28,125 worldwide, as of 5:43 p.m., March 28th.
Finally, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is teaming up with Mastercard and Wellcome for the “COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator”, which is a $125 million effort to help find treatments for the coronavirus and future potential threats.
