Elon Musk has revealed that he has tested positive for Covid-19 but questions the validity of the result.
“Something extremely bogus is going on,” he tweeted on Thursday night.
“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 Tesla and SpaceX CEO said he was experiencing symptoms of a common cold and is currently awaiting the results of two PCR tests.
Antigen tests that he took can be performed quickly but tend to be less accurate than PCR tests.
He said his symptoms were: “Mild sniffles and cough and slight fever past few days. Right now, no symptoms, although I did take NyQuil.”
Mr Musk has previously downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, declaring in March that “the coronavirus panic id dumb”.
As cases began to rise exponentially around the world later that month, he made a prediction that Covid-19 infections in the US would be “probably close to zero” by the end of April.
The US has since risen from tens of thousands of cases, to millions. On Thursday, the US reported more than 140,000 new cases, pushing the total figure towards 11 million.
Mr Musk was due to attend the launch of a crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) this weekend but might be forced to self isolate instead if the PCR test comes back positive.
Speaking at a press event on Friday, Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said it was not yet clear whether the SpaceX boss would be in attendance.
“When somebody tests positive for Covid, here at the Kennedy Space Center and across Nasa it is our policy for that person to quarantine and self isolate,” Bridenstine said.
“We anticipate that will be taking place… But it’s very early right now to know if any changes are necessary at this point. We just don’t know.”
