If Bill Gates were President of the United States right now, he would prioritize keeping people across America in isolation to "flatten the curve" of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The clear message [would be] that we have no choice to maintain this isolation and that's going to keep going for a period of time," Bill Gates told TED curator Chris Anderson on Tuesday. "In the Chinese case, it was like six weeks, so we have to prepare ourselves for that and do it very well."

According to Gates, "If you're doing isolation well [nationally], within about 20 days you'll see those numbers [of new cases] really change," i.e., go down, "…and that is a sign that you're on your way."

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As president, Gates would also emphasize, "This is not going to be easy. We need a clear message about that," he said.

Currently, at least 179 million people in 18 states, 31 counties and 13 cities are being urged to stay home, according to a running tally by the New York Times.

According to Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center, the number of new cases in the United States has still been trending higher. By comparison, "the curve" has generally flattened in China and South Korea, as the chart, below, shows.