Published 17:36 IST, September 30th 2020
'Everybody dies': Elon Musk downplays COVID-19 risk, says 'won't get vaccinated'
SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk has said that he and his family would not get vaccinated even if a coronavirus vaccine becomes widely available.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that he and his family would not get vaccinated even if a COVID-19 vaccine becomes widely available. His remarks came while speaking at recently launched New York Times’ podcast Sway. Musk, who had previously given controversial statements downplaying the severity of coronavirus also said that he and his kids weren't at risk of contracting the infection.
When asked about his opinion on lockdown, the business magnate asserted that he was opposed to the idea of lockdowns and said that they did not “serve the greater good”. Supporting his claim further, he said that instead of locking down the whole nation, anyone “who is at the risk” should be quarantined until the storm passes. The US has recorded 791,349 cases and 206,005 deaths since the first case was registered earlier in January.
Musk questions COVID-19 testing
Earlier, Musk along with his brother Kimbal questioned the COVID-19 testing system in the US, raising concerns over “false positives” which according to him are meddling with the number of cases reported. He theorised that even five percent false positive rate would show up as 17 million false cases.
Musk’s tweet came in reply to his brother who posted a graph showing deaths in the US dropping despite a spike in cases. Later, Kimbal Musk also repeated Elon’s claim and claimed that he had tested positive for COVID-19 in April. However, when he got himself tested for the second time, he tested negative.
In another instance, Musk again tried to downplay the threat of the coronavirus pandemic by comparing the disease against car crashes. Buzzfeed reported that the SpaceX CEO, in a memo to his employees, said that they were far less likely to die of coronavirus than car crashes adding that he doesn’t think COVID-19 is among the “top 100 health risks in the United States”.
Updated 17:35 IST, September 30th 2020