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| Elon Musk (pictured) has said he tested both positive and negative twice for COVID-19 as he declared 'something extremely bogus' is happening ©NASA/Bill Ingalls |
Elon Musk has claimed he took four coronavirus tests in a day, two coming back positive and two negative, and declared 'something extremely bogus is going on.'
The Tesla boss, who has previously described lockdown measures as 'fascist,' tweeted Thursday: '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.'
The 49-year-old may have been referring to Becton Dickinson's Veritor Plus system, a 15-minute rapid antigen test. BD is a major supplier of tests to the US government.
The FDA, which gave emergency authorisation to the BD test, says any negative result should be verified by molecular testing - the most accurate form.
Musk later revealed he was suffering 'typical cold' symptoms and warned of the contradictory results: 'If it's happening to me, it's happening to others'.
Their documentation for the BD test warns that even a positive result 'indicates the presence of viral antigens, but clinical correlation with patient history and other diagnostic information is necessary to determine infection status.'
As regards a negative result, it says: 'Negative results are presumptive. Negative test results do not preclude infection and should not be used as the sole basis for treatment ... It is recommended that these results be confirmed by a molecular testing method.'
Last week, the FDA said it was alerting clinical laboratory staff and healthcare providers that false positive results can occur with COVID-19 antigen tests.
BD said in September it was investigating reports from nursing homes that its rapid coronavirus testing equipment was producing false-positive results.
In October, Nevada health officials ordered nursing homes to stop using two rapid antigen tests after nearly two-thirds of the tests were false-positive, or people were mistakenly told they were infected with the virus.
The tests were the Quidel Sofia II and the BD Veritor Plus, the latter being the company behind the tests Musk said he used.
Several Twitter followers joined in Musk's discussion questioning the inaccuracies and asking about the eccentric entrepreneur's symptoms.
'Could this be why we've been seeing such a major spike?' one person wrote.
'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 wrote.
'Symptoms of a typical cold. Nothing unusual so far,' he replied to another about his condition.
Musk then seemed to take a swipe at companies developing the tests, responding 'exactly' to someone who wrote that the 'revenues from tests are likely not bogus & very consistent.'
In a follow-up tweet Musk then added: 'The carousel turns ever faster.'
Musk has repeatedly downplayed the extent of the virus which has so far killed more than 242,000 Americans.
Back in March, he fired off a tweet dismissing rising fears over the coronavirus outbreak as 'dumb' as cases continued to mount across the US.
He then incorrectly told his 39 million followers that children were 'essentially immune' to the virus and blasted the nationwide lockdowns as 'de facto house arrest.'
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The Tesla boss, who has previously described lockdown measures as 'fascist,' tweeted Thursday: '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.'
The 49-year-old may have been referring to Becton Dickinson's Veritor Plus system, a 15-minute rapid antigen test. BD is a major supplier of tests to the US government.
The FDA, which gave emergency authorisation to the BD test, says any negative result should be verified by molecular testing - the most accurate form.
Musk later revealed he was suffering 'typical cold' symptoms and warned of the contradictory results: 'If it's happening to me, it's happening to others'.
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
Their documentation for the BD test warns that even a positive result 'indicates the presence of viral antigens, but clinical correlation with patient history and other diagnostic information is necessary to determine infection status.'
As regards a negative result, it says: 'Negative results are presumptive. Negative test results do not preclude infection and should not be used as the sole basis for treatment ... It is recommended that these results be confirmed by a molecular testing method.'
Last week, the FDA said it was alerting clinical laboratory staff and healthcare providers that false positive results can occur with COVID-19 antigen tests.
BD said in September it was investigating reports from nursing homes that its rapid coronavirus testing equipment was producing false-positive results.
In October, Nevada health officials ordered nursing homes to stop using two rapid antigen tests after nearly two-thirds of the tests were false-positive, or people were mistakenly told they were infected with the virus.
The tests were the Quidel Sofia II and the BD Veritor Plus, the latter being the company behind the tests Musk said he used.
Several Twitter followers joined in Musk's discussion questioning the inaccuracies and asking about the eccentric entrepreneur's symptoms.
'Could this be why we've been seeing such a major spike?' one person wrote.
'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 wrote.
'Symptoms of a typical cold. Nothing unusual so far,' he replied to another about his condition.
Musk then seemed to take a swipe at companies developing the tests, responding 'exactly' to someone who wrote that the 'revenues from tests are likely not bogus & very consistent.'
In a follow-up tweet Musk then added: 'The carousel turns ever faster.'
Musk has repeatedly downplayed the extent of the virus which has so far killed more than 242,000 Americans.
Back in March, he fired off a tweet dismissing rising fears over the coronavirus outbreak as 'dumb' as cases continued to mount across the US.
He then incorrectly told his 39 million followers that children were 'essentially immune' to the virus and blasted the nationwide lockdowns as 'de facto house arrest.'
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