Elon Musk just tweeted that "something extremely bogus is going on." He was tested four times for coronavirus in one day and half the tests came back positive. However, the tests came from the same machine and were handled by one nurse, his tweet says.
So far, he's only experiencing symptoms of the common cold. The rapid antigen tests he took were from Becton, Dickinson, and Company (BD) based in the Netherlands.
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
At the beginning of the month, BD received an order for over nine million rapid antigen tests from the Dutch Ministry of Health. Using the BD Veritor Plus System, users will know within 15 minutes of they are positive for coronavirus.
Clinical studies on the BD tests have demonstrated 84% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Negative tests, as recommended by the Food and Drug Administration, should be confirmed by molecular methods if necessary such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) antibody tests.
How Accurate Are Rapid Antigen Tests?
However, similar to thousands of tests around the world, results aren't always consistent or accurate. Other test results could be false positive or false negative depending on the viral load of a person. There had also been several studies confirming that tests could be detecting inactive strains in patients that have already recovered.
Musk hasn't revealed any other details yet but there are several possible scenarios. First is, if he did test positive for coronavirus, he may only have mild symptoms and recovered quickly. On the other hand, depending on his current health condition, his immune system, and other factors, he may become a long-hauler. A study from July revealed that over 80% of recovered patients with mild symptoms continued to have one persistent symptom such as fatigue or shortness of breath.
On the other hand, the test may be inaccurate and gave him two false-positive results. Another scenario, perhaps, is that Musk's positive tests were faulty and he only has a common cold.
Musk's On and Off Relationsip With the Pandemic
Earlier this year, his tweets had revealed how he felt about the ongoing pandemic, such as arguing with California's lockdown measures when all companies were forced to temporarily shut down. Then in April, he donated bilevel positive airway pressure (biPAP) or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines to several hospitals in California. While the machines weren't full ventilators, they still assisted the many patients that needed help breathing.
In a New York Times podcast with Kara Swisher in September, he shared that neither he nor his kids are at risk of the virus. He also said that he would not take the vaccine once it's available, joining nearly one-third of Americans who refused to get vaccinated as well according to a poll earlier this year by CNN.
We'll just have to wait and see until more details are revealed in his future tweets since he is getting PCR tests from separate labs as well. An hour later, he also tweeted "The carousel turns ever faster."
Check out more news and information on Elon Musk on Science Times.
