By Robert Wall and Heather Somerville
Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk, who has repeatedly played
down the risk of the coronavirus since early in the pandemic, says
he tested both positive and negative for Covid-19 and sought to
raise doubts about the validity of such testing more broadly.
Mr. Musk said on Twitter he was experiencing cold-like symptoms
and, when taking four of the same tests administered on the same
machine, had two results return positive and two negative.
"Something extremely bogus is going on," he tweeted late
Thursday. "If it's happening to me, it's happening to others."
The four Covid-19 results Mr. Musk said he received came from
rapid-response tests. They aren't considered as accurate as PCR, or
polymerase chain reaction, tests that typically involve a nasal or
throat swab.
His comments were met with a chorus of Twitter followers who
shared skepticism about the tests, alleging high false-positive
rates and widespread misdiagnosis. Among those making the claims
were groups and individuals who have publicly opposed the lockdowns
and other restrictions mandated by governments to try to stem the
spread of the virus.
Health officials in the U.S. are reporting higher infections, as
well as more hospitalizations due to Covid-19 that rose to a record
68,516 Friday, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
The symptoms Mr. Musk said he had experienced were mild
"sniffles & cough & slight fever past few days." He later
tweeted he wasn't feeling any symptoms after taking
over-the-counter cold medicine.
If a diagnosis is confirmed, Mr. Musk would become one of
several CEOs to reveal they contracted the virus. Morgan Stanley
CEO James Gorman, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell and Hewlett-Packard
Enterprise Co. CEO Antonio Neri revealed positive diagnoses earlier
this year.
Howard Willard, former CEO of Altria Group Inc., took a
temporary medical leave after a positive diagnosis in March and
announced his retirement in April after a rocky two-year tenure
leading the Marlboro maker.
Through the pandemic, management teams have worked to fortify
succession plans and review backup operating plans when critical
employees fall ill.
In March, Mr. Musk said there would likely be close to zero new
Covid-19 cases in the U.S. by the end of April. The outspoken CEO
also said in March: "My guess is that the panic will cause more
harm than the virus, if that hasn't happened already."
Mr. Musk disclosed the test results ahead of a planned rocket
launch by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., where he also is
CEO. The launch from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is scheduled to
carry four astronauts to the International Space Station -- the
launch was scheduled for Saturday, but got delayed as a result of
onshore winds and for booster-recovery operations.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on Friday said it was the
agency's policy that when someone tests positive, they
self-isolate, and that it was looking to SpaceX to handle any
appropriate contact tracing. "If there are adjustments that need to
be made, we will make them," he said.
The astronauts scheduled to launch on the Falcon 9 rocket have
been quarantining and, Mr. Bridenstine said, he wasn't aware of any
contact between them and Mr. Musk. The crew, he said, "should be in
good shape."
Among the questions Mr. Musk on Twitter raised about Covid-19
testing was the level of false-positive rates for PCR tests. "The
guy is spreading more misinformation on Covid than almost anyone
else out there, " said Ashish Jha, professor of health services and
dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. "Things are
horrible and he is actively using his platform to say things that
will lead to more infections and deaths. It is deeply irresponsible
and he should be better than this."
Mr. Jha said one of Mr. Musk's deputies contacted him early in
the pandemic and asked him to make public statements asserting that
a large number of false positive tests made the pandemic appear
much worse than it was. Mr. Jha declined, he said, because "the
idea that there are all these false positives with PCR tests is
junk."
Mr. Musk and Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, Alameda County, near San Francisco -- where Tesla's
lone U.S. car factory is based -- warned of rising coronavirus
cases and potential new restrictions to combat the disease. County
health officials earlier this year ordered Tesla to temporarily
close the car plant.
On an earnings call in April, with the U.S. plant shut, Mr. Musk
railed against local shelter-in-place restrictions aimed at slowing
the spread of the virus.
"Give people back their goddamn freedom," he said.
When Tesla reopened the Fremont plant in May, it had put in
place safety protocols that county officials inspected. Workers
have reported instances of Covid-19 cases among workers at the
facility, though neither Tesla nor local authorities have commented
on the scale of infection among the vehicle maker's staff.
The response to the pandemic has become a polarized issue in
America. Mr. Musk retweeted several comments that sought to raise
questions about the accuracy of tests.
The test, which Mr. Musk said was from Becton, Dickinson &
Co., is one of several authorized antigen tests, which search for
virus proteins in patient samples and can deliver a result in about
15 minutes. The tests tend to be less precise than laboratory-based
PCR tests. But they are good at identifying those that have higher
viral loads and are likely most infectious, public-health experts
say.
"We are aware of the tweet and are reaching out to learn more,
consistent with our quality management process," a spokeswoman for
Becton Dickinson said. "We stand by the quality, utility and
science of our system and assay. There are many factors that could
lead to a discordant result, including a low viral load."
False positives and false negatives can occur with any clinical
test. False negative results, or failing to pick up a present
infection, are more common with antigen tests, but false positives
can also occur. Public-health authorities sometimes recommend a
confirmatory PCR test and say that test results should be looked at
in conjunction with other pieces of information, such as symptoms
and potential exposure.
Becton Dickinson in September said it was investigating reports
from nursing homes that federally provided rapid coronavirus
testing equipment from the company was producing false-positive
results in some cases.
It couldn't be determined why Mr. Musk took four rapid tests or
how he had access to so many when many members of the public at
times have struggled to get timely testing.
Despite the turmoil of recent months and the wider global
economic slowdown, Tesla has been navigating the health crisis with
little apparent impact. Vehicles deliveries in the second quarter
fell compared with the year-ago period.
The pandemic at one point threatened to derail Mr. Musk's plan
to boost Tesla deliveries by about 36% this year with the closure
of the plant. Mr. Musk fought to reopen the factory, and Tesla last
month said its goal of delivering more than 500,000 vehicles this
year could still be attainable. The company is on track to post its
first full-year profit in 2020 despite the pandemic, according to
analyst estimates.
Tesla shares were down about 0.79% Friday afternoon as the
broader market advanced.
--Bowdeya Tweh and Brianna Abbott contributed to this
article.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com and Heather
Somerville at Heather.Somerville@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 13, 2020 19:29 ET (00:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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