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(CNN) – SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on social media last night that he conducted four tests for COVID-19 in one day, two of them positive and two negative. It is still unclear whether Musk has the virus, but the news immediately raised concerns that a diagnosis will affect SpaceX’s plans to send astronauts on missions to the International Space Station this weekend.
Musk posted a short series of tweets overnight, claiming to have had “mild cold”, “cough” and “mild fever” in the past few days. He added that he hopes to get results from a PCR test, which is known to be more accurate than the type of rapid test Musk said he performed, within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Musk’s tweets have echoed across the country at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where four astronauts prepare to travel into space aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Sunday.
NASA chief Jim Bridenstine, who was scheduled to hold a routine press conference on Friday morning, told reporters inquiring about Musk’s tweets that according to NASA policy, Musk should be present for quarantine and SpaceX would attempt to determine who could. having been in contact with Musk.
During another routine press conference on Friday evening, NASA and SpaceX officials at the Kennedy Space Center said the contact tracing was largely complete and determined that none are essential to the mission to that end. week was at risk of exposure to covid-19.
Astronauts are almost certainly not at risk, according to Norm Knight, NASA’s deputy director of flight operations.
The space agency regularly tested anyone who was close to the crew. Even before the pandemic, NASA astronauts adhered to pre-flight quarantine rules to ensure they don’t carry a disease into space, where viruses and bacteria could quickly spread among crew members in space. spaceship. NASA has also implemented more stringent measures in response to COVID-19.
For two weeks prior to launch, the astronauts were in “hard quarantine,” which means they are “totally isolated” and cannot be close to anyone outside the launch team, not even their families, Knight said.
And Musk, he added, will not be able to enter the NASA facility on launch day.
“It’s limited access,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you are Elon Musk or Jim Bridenstine… if one or the other [de los protocolos covid-19 de la NASA] has been compromised, so we won’t let you get close to the crew. And again, it’s to protect the mission in general.
It is unclear whether Musk planned to attend the Florida launch, although he is often seen at the SpaceX launch check at the Kennedy Space Center during major SpaceX missions.
SpaceX’s manned spaceflight program chief Benji Reed said SpaceX’s mission control center in Hawthorne, California meets stringent health and safety regulations. Employees playing critical roles in the launch process were tested, temperature-controlled and quarantined to ensure their health ahead of this weekend’s mission.
Reed also urged members of the public not to ignore Covid-19 if they choose to attend the ground launch in Florida this weekend.
“We know everyone is very excited about the launch and very excited about recovery and manned spaceflight in general,” Reed said. “We definitely ask everyone involved, if you come to see the launch… please put on your masks and follow the guidelines for social distancing. Do the right thing to keep everyone safe.
The mission is expected to take off Sunday at 7:27 pm Miami time. The original launch date was Saturday night, but officials delayed it due to unfavorable weather conditions, NASA and SpaceX officials said.
Because Musk’s tests may have been wrong
Musk said on Twitter that the four tests he performed on Thursday were rapid tests, or “antigen tests,” performed by the same nurse at the same facility. In his late-night tweets he claimed that something “extremely false” was happening, echoing months of previous tweets in which Musk had expressed doubts about the COVID-19 threat. He also previously shared a YouTube video which was later removed to contain incorrect information about the virus.
In a recent interview with reporter Kara Swisher, Musk doubled his skepticism, said he would not take a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, and insisted that blocking orders designed to reduce the spread of the virus did more harm than good.
In fact, medical professionals are well aware that rapid antigen tests can be inaccurate and lead to false negatives or, more strangely, false positives.
PCR tests, on the other hand, can take a day or more to return results, but they are much more accurate.
This is because PCR tests look for signs of the genetic material of the covid-19 virus, while antigen tests look for one of the viral proteins or a small trace of the virus’s presence. And although both types of tests are based on a nasal swab, PCR tests require complicated specialized laboratories and trained technicians to perform.
That’s why in the early days of the pandemic, PCR tests were long overdue, sometimes taking more than a week to return results. Antigen tests were expected to provide a faster, albeit less accurate, picture of how the novel coronavirus was spreading in the United States.
Musk also called the company that carried out the antigen tests he conducted Thursday, BD, a New Jersey-based medical technology company.
BD communications manager Jessica Offerjost responded in an e-mailed statement to CNN Business, saying the company “is aware of the tweet and is trying to get more information consistent with our quality management process.” .
“While the scientific community agrees that no diagnostic test is perfect, we stand by the quality, usefulness and science of our system,” the statement read. “There are many factors that could lead to a discordant result … As we clearly state in our instructions for use, negative results should be considered in the context of a specific patient situation and confirmed with a molecular PCR test if necessary. for patient management ‘.
According to Musk’s tweets, he expects to receive his PCR test results on Friday night. He also noted that at the time he was not showing any symptoms, although he “took NyQuil”.
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