San Francisco: SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he tested positive for novel coronavirus and then negative on the same day.
Musk, who is having symptoms of a “typical cold” and “nothing unusual so far,” did four tests on Thursday.
“Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for Covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD,” tweeted Musk, who is known for his cavalier attitude towards the disease.
Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2020
The test that the SpaceX CEO mentioned in the tweet refers to the BD Veritor test, a nasal swabs-based test designed to give results in 15 minutes.
However, his tweet didn’t sit down well with Twitterati who called the post “irresponsible” and said he was “feeding” to the conspiracy theorists.
Such an irresponsible tweet.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 13, 2020
According to a report in Forbes, the test is being used due to the current emergency situation even though it has not yet been cleared or approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
I'm a diagnostic pathologist. There are issues with testing at the moment. The rapid antigen test is more likely to underdiagnose than overdiagnose so you should indeed get checked with PCR. However, PCR errors are causing a false positive pseudoepidemic. https://t.co/zmocrnzWuO
— Dr Clare Craig (@ClareCraigPath) November 13, 2020
“If it’s happening to me, it’s happening to others. I’m getting PCR tests from separate labs. Results will take about 24 hours,” Musk said.
A vocal critic of sweeping restriction put in the wake of the pandemic, the tech billionaire had earlier said that he would not take a vaccine against the disease when it becomes available.
It’s called science Elon. Even HIV tests aren’t 100% accurate. These are brand new. There’s no bogus. Don’t feed the stupid people with more conspiracy theories.
— BittBurger (@BittBurger) November 13, 2020
In an interview on the New York Times’ podcast “Sway” published in September, Musk even defended the opening of a Tesla factory in California in defiance of the local lockdown rules.
(With inputs from IANS)