Last Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed he was tested for COVID-19 and results came back both positive and negative.
Musk then thrust himself into the COVID-19 spotlight again by saying, “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.”
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
While many called out Musk for seemingly casting doubt on COVID-19 testing, the latest comes from Emma Bell, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada.
Bell said on Saturday, “Rapid antigen tests trade sensitivity for speed. They return a result in <30 minutes, but can only detect COVID-19 when you’re absolutely riddled with it. What’s bogus is that Space Karen didn’t read up on the test before complaining to his millions of followers.”
Rapid antigen tests trade sensitivity for speed. They return a result in <30 minutes, but can only detect COVID-19 when you're absolutely riddled with it. What's bogus is that Space Karen didn't read up on the test before complaining to his millions of followers. pic.twitter.com/a1Snfpm03h
— Emma Bell, PhD (@emmabell42) November 14, 2020
Bell followed up to say, “This graphs shows the probability of COVID-19 detection for the available tests. Rapid antigen tests (orange) only give low false negative results for a couple of days. Space Karen’s results (2 neg, followed by 2 pos later that day) are completely in line with this.”
This graphs shows the probability of COVID-19 detection for the available tests. Rapid antigen tests (orange) only give low false negative results for a couple of days. Space Karen's results (2 neg, followed by 2 pos later that day) are completely in line with this. pic.twitter.com/hnX9J1m7Lk
— Emma Bell, PhD (@emmabell42) November 14, 2020
Musk said on Saturday he felt “A little up & down. Feels just like a regular cold, but more body achy & cloudy head than coughing/sneezing. DayQuil rocks.”
A little up & down. Feels just like a regular cold, but more body achy & cloudy head than coughing/sneezing. DayQuil rocks.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2020
And, as Twitter trends go, ‘Space Karen’ exploded with Musk taking the brunt.
Back in March, Musk controversially said there would probably be “close to zero new cases in US too by end of April,” which never happened.
Yesterday, there were 135,187 new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.
Based on current trends, probably close to zero new cases in US too by end of April
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2020
The COVID-19 debate can rage on, but one thing is for certain we are still in a pandemic.
