In a podcast interview with New York Times’ host Kara Swisher, Elon Musk shared his thoughts about the lockdowns and the possible Covid-19 vaccine.
The South African billionaire and business magnate said that he opposed the lockdowns because they were not serving “the greater good.” He went on to say that what he has seen in these last few months has struck him as irrational.
“It has diminished my faith in humanity, the whole thing…the irrationality of people in general.” Said Tesla’s CEO.
Musk believes the best approach we could have taken would have looked closer to what Sweden did, where they did not shut down the economy and had people that were at a higher risk quarantine.
“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. “I mean, this is a hot button issue where rationality takes a back seat. In the grand scheme of things what we have is something with a very low mortality rate and high contagion.”
He even defied California’s orders of a lockdown when he decided to reopen. In May, after Covid-19 had already peaked in the West Coast State, Musk wrote on his Twitter: “Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.” He assured that those employees who felt at risk did not have to come. This directly challenged Alameda county’s orders that only essential businesses were allowed to reopen.
Then the topic turned to vaccines, when Ms. Swisher asked the founder of SpaceX if he or his family would be taking one when the vaccine became available. Musk, who at 49 years old is at a very low risk of Covid-19 being dangerous for him, assured the host that neither him or his family which includes 6 children would be taking one.
“No, I’m not at risk for COVID. Nor are my kids,” said Musk confidently.
The Daily Wire reports:
When Swisher argued that his views on COVID-19 run counter to his work to help humanity — from space exploration to electric cars, Musk said simply: “Everybody dies.”
Musk also said that he has been putting a lot of effort into the coronavirus pandemic, working with Harvard University’s epidemiology team.
The business magnate then added that they have spent a lot of time with the Harvard epidemiology team doing antibody studies, “Tesla makes the vaccine machines for CureVac, [Microsoft founder Bill] Gates said something about me not doing … like, hey knucklehead, we actually make the vaccine machines for CureVac, the company you’re invested in,” he noted.
