Erykah Badu Says She Tested 'Positive' for COVID-19 in Her Left Nostril and 'Negative' in Right

Erykah Badu is playing it safe.

The singer, 49, announced on Friday that she was taking her third COVID-19 test in 24 hours, after her previous two tests yielded conflicting results. Although one test, which used a swab from her left nostril, came back positive, a second tests, which used a swab taken from her right nostril, was negative for the novel coronavirus.

“No symptoms. Was tested for COVID. Same machine. Left nostril positive. Right nostril negative,” she wrote on Twitter, joking, “Maybe they need to call Swiss [sic] Beats so they can do a versus between them.”

“We have to take those routine COVID tests to work on set,” she added in another message.

Due to the varying results, Badu had to take a third test, which was conducted at her home. “This is my third rapid test in 24 hours,” she wrote in another Tweet, alongside a video that showed her waiting for her test results to come in.

“I’m at home. I’m doing a home COVID test. It is now Nov. 13, 2020 AD — AC, after corona,” she joked in the video, before adding that despite trying to keep it light, “I’m actually really scared right now.”

Continuing, she said, “if I actually have it that means I’m gonna have to shut down all of my shows and sh—, quarantine.”

Fortunately for Badu, the third test came back negative.

Elon Musk also tweeted about his own varying test results on Friday. “Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive,” he wrote. “Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD.”

According to the Food and Drug Administration, depending on what type of coronavirus testing is available to you, an additional test can sometimes be required to ensure accuracy.

While molecular tests — which can take up to a week to get results — are "typically highly accurate" and do not usually "need to be repeated," antigen tests — which can yield results within 15-30 minutes — may require additional testing. 

"Positive results are usually highly accurate, but false positives can happen, especially in areas where very few people have the virus," according to the FDA, noting that "negative results may need to be confirmed with a molecular test."

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