Though restrictions tons and mandates might be lifting around the world, the risk of contracting Covid-19 is still as real as ever, even for those who have previously suffered from the virus.
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This seems to be the case for Tesla CEO Elon Musk who announced to his 79.4 million Twitter followers early Monday morning that he had in fact come down with the virus for second time, though he remains non-symptomatic.
“Covid-19 is the virus of Theseus,” Musk wrote. “How many gene changes before it’s not Covid-19 anymore? I supposedly have it again (sigh), but almost no symptoms.”
Covid-19 is the virus of Theseus.
How many gene changes before it’s not Covid-19 anymore?
I supposedly have it again (sigh), but almost no symptoms.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 28, 2022
Musk has previously been outspoken about both Covid shelter-in-place and distancing protocols as well as vaccinations.
At the onset of the pandemic, Musk tweeted that the panic surrounding the pandemic was “dumb,” before sounding off during a meeting on how he really felt once shelter-in-place orders began.
The coronavirus panic is dumb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 6, 2020
“Frankly, I would call it forcible imprisoning of people in their homes against all of, their constitutional rights, in my opinion,” Musk said on a Tesla earnings call back in April 2020. “It’s breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why they came to America or built this country. What the f—. Excuse me. Outrage.”
He then tweeted “FREE AMERICA NOW” as lockdown restrictions began to tighten on April 29, 2020.
FREE AMERICA NOW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2020
Later that year, Musk explained that he felt as though neither himself or his children were at a risk for the virus and that he didn’t believe in widespread vaccination mandates.
“Essentially, the right thing to do would be to not have done a lockdown for the whole country but to have, I think, anyone who’s at risk should be quarantined until the storm passes,” Musk said on an episode of the Sway podcast to journalist Kara Swisher
During an interview with TIME after being selected as the 2021 Person of the Year, Musk told the publication that he and his children had in fact been vaccinated, citing scientific evidence for the vaccine that he called “unequivocal” yet doubled down on his opposition to mandates.
“To be clear, I do support vaccines in general & covid vaccines specifically,” Musk wrote on Twitter in April 2021. “In very rare cases, there is an allergic reaction, but this is easily addressed with an EpiPen.”
To be clear, I do support vaccines in general & covid vaccines specifically. The science is unequivocal.
In very rare cases, there is an allergic reaction, but this is easily addressed with an EpiPen.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2021
Tesla was up a whopping 79.08% year over year as of late Monday afternoon.