Elon Musk was spectacularly triumphant Sunday over the historic SpaceX launch, but that didn’t stop critics from slapping a 2020 label on him — “Space Karen,” and it all has to do with coronavirus.
Dr. Emma Bell tore into Musk after he groused that his COVID tests were, as he put it, “extremely bogus.” As we reported, Elon wrote Friday, “Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse.”
That criticism didn’t sit well with Dr. Bell — who by the way, is a PhD — who said, Rapid antigen tests trade sensitivity for speed. They return a result in [less than] 30 minutes, but can only detect COVID-19 when you’re absolutely riddled with it. What’s bogus is that Space Karen didn’t read up on the test before complaining to his millions of followers.”
Thing is … Elon’s right about the accuracy of the test — it’s dicey. Apparently, Dr. Bell thinks Elon’s creating doubt over testing, which is a bad thing. On the other hand, it’s Elon’s opinion the test is bogus because he says it lacks reliability.
NASA/SpaceX
As for “Space Karen,” Elon could not attend the launch of his Falcon 9 that hurled 4 astronauts into space Sunday, because of COVID concerns. The launch is historic, and cements the partnership between NASA and SpaceX. The astronauts are on the way to the International Space Station, where they’ll stay put for 6 months.
