WATCH: Bill Gates suggests lockdown measures could continue into 2022

Speaking about California Governor Gavin Newsom's latest lockdown orders shuttering businesses across the state, Tapper noted that "there are a lot of governors who oppose bringing back these lockdown orders and forcing businesses to close. He then asked the Microsoft founder and multi-billionaire "what do you think?"

"Well certainly mask-wearing has essentially no downsides," Gates asserted. "Bars and restaurants in most of the country will be closed as we go into this wave, and I think sadly that's appropriate."

"You don't want somebody you love to be the last to die of coronavirus," Gates stated.

Gates asserted that schools, however, should be treated differently due to the low transmission rate among children, suggesting that "trade-offs will have to be made."

Tapper then asked Gates when he thinks life will fully return to normal with "no masks, no social distancing, no other protective measures necessary."

"Certainly by the summer we'll be way closer to normal than we are now," Gates said, but added that the population could still be subject to coronavirus-related restrictions by early 2022 "unless we help other countries get rid of this disease and we get high vaccination rates in our country."

Gates cited the risk of reintroduction as a reason for continuing such measures.

Gates also asserted that "big public gatherings" will continue to be restricted by the summer, but that within "12 to 18 months," there is a chance that things could return back to normal.