Elon Musk says he ‘most likely’ has COVID-19, questions tests

Tech mogul Elon Musk on Saturday said he “most likely” has a moderate case of COVID-19 while continuing to question the accuracy of coronavirus tests.

In response to a Twitter user asking if he had the coronavirus the Tesla CEO tweeted, “Am getting wildly different results from different labs, but most likely I have a moderate case of covid. My symptoms are that of a minor cold, which is no surprise, since a coronavirus is a type of cold.”

Am getting wildly different results from different labs, but most likely I have a moderate case of covid. My symptoms are that of a minor cold, which is no surprise, since a coronavirus is a type of cold.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2020

“A little up & down. Feels just like a regular cold, but more body achy & cloudy head than coughing/sneezing. DayQuil rocks,” wrote Musk when asked by another Twitter user about his symptoms.

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

He added that he was being tested by “several different labs” and said he had requested an “N1 gene PCR cycle.” Reuters notes polymerase chain reaction tests (PCR) are more accurate than rapid testing.

Doing tests from several different labs, same time of day, administered by RN & am requesting N1 gene PCR cycle threshold. There is no official standard for PCR testing. Not sure people realize this.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2020

On Thursday, Musk claimed that rapid antigen results from the same machine had come out as both positive and negative multiple times on the same day.

Reuters reports that this development may affect Musk’s presence at the planned Sunday launch of four NASA astronauts into space on a spacecraft created by his company SpaceX. This will be the first NASA mission will a full crew done with a privately owned spacecraft. The launch was moved back a day to Sunday due to winds in Florida after it was initially planned to take place on Saturday.

A few weeks ago Musk flew into Germany for an in-person interview at the Tesla factory being built in Berlin. This trip was not long after the country announced it would be going into a second, smaller national lockdown in light of surging coronavirus cases in Europe.