Elon Musk decided to get tested for Covid-19 because he felt “symptoms of typical cold”. On Thursday, the 12th of November, he underwent 4 tests. The results caused him to question the testing. The reason: two of his tests came back positive and the other two negative. Musk took to Twitter to bring the situation to the light. He questioned the authenticity of the testing procedure and the test itself.
He tweeted, “Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, and two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD.”
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
Musk’s home state is the Golden State of California. This makes the results further interesting as the state has seen a spike in cases. Data available to the public domain suggests that the past week has seen a rise in cases. On the 8th of November, California reported 7,500 tests were confirmed positive. Naturally, people questioned this ambiguity in results.
Something Extremely Bogus?
According to the Food and Drug Administration of the USA, the contradictory results from the cases suggest that the tests could have been administered incorrectly. The organization’s website suggests that false positives can occur and that it is aware of the presence of them, but states that only 4 out of 100 tests would result in an incorrect reading. Musk’s followers thus asked, “Could this be why we’ve been seeing such a major spike?” to which Musk replied, “f it’s happening to me, it’s happening to others.” Musk further said that he has taken a PCR test to confirm the results.
Most of the replies to Musk’s tweet had a sense of doubt regarding the testing. One of the followers went as far as questioning the testing bodies. The follower stated, “Revenues from tests are likely not bogus & very consistent”. Elon, who has questioned the lockdown earlier, replied “Exactly”
Revenues from tests are likely not bogus & very consistent
— ALEX ? (@ajtourville) November 13, 2020
However, some have called out Musk for putting out an irresponsible tweet. Obviously, an influential man like Elon could sway the masses’ opinion. Kyle Griffin of MSNBC was one of them
Such an irresponsible tweet.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 13, 2020
Musk has been vocal about his discontent regarding the handling of the pandemic. Tesla’s Fremont factory was under lockdown for almost 2 months. This hampered the companies Q1 numbers.
What do you guys think? Is there some fishy business or is this normal for a rapid test? Let us know in the comments.
