News of increasing cases of COVID-19 has swept the United States and it's reported that America will soon, once again, face a lockdown. Over 243,000 people in the U.S. have lost their lives to coronavirus-related illnesses, and people are now being tested more than ever as there have been new requirements for COVID-19 results before traveling or returning to work. With COVID back on the rise, Elon Musk decided to take a look at the testing techniques and according to him, something isn't quite right.
The reliability of COVID-19 tests has been questioned and Elon is raising the alarm on the validity of results. "Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today," Musk tweeted. "Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD."
Musk then asked if there was anyone with knowledge of this specific testing that could give him data on the accuracy of results dependent on the cycles. Instead of listening to the opinions of Twitter users, Elon Musk used his connections to speak with lab technicians directly. "Lab I just spoke to said cov2 PCR detection (N1 & N3 genes) below 30 cycles is reliable & above 40 cycles is not." What this means for the general public and how this has affected previous tests is unknown. Check out his tweets below.
