Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed late Thursday that he received two negative and two positive results after taking four rapid COVID-19 tests in one day, multiple news outlets are reporting.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the 49-year-old tech magnate, who has criticized coronavirus lockdowns and downplayed the virus' risks for several months, shared the news in a series of tweets.
“Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD,” wrote Musk, adding that he had coldlike symptoms.
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
Reuters reported that “BD” may refer to a rapid-response test produced by Beckton Dickinson, which had not commented on Musk’s claim as of early Friday.
Musk, who said he first received a positive result, followed by two negatives and another positive, tweeted that he is now “getting [polymerase chain reaction] tests from separate labs” and likely will receive the results in 24 hours, the news outlets reported.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, rapid antigen tests “usually provide results diagnosing an active coronavirus infection faster than molecular tests,” such as PCR tests, “but antigen tests have a higher chance of missing an active infection.” No coronavirus test “is 100% accurate all of the time,” the agency added.
“If an antigen test shows a negative result indicating that you do not have an active coronavirus infection, your health care provider may order a molecular test to confirm the result,” the FDA said on its website.
As of early Friday, more than 52.7 million coronavirus cases and 1.2 million deaths had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has reported more than 10.5 million cases and 242,000 deaths, the data showed.
Cox Media Group
