This is a really disingenuous and dangerous title by Wired and they should change it immediately. It does not reflect the content of the article and what Gates actually said in their own interview. Gates does not say the tests do not work. He says they take too long.

Gates is saying tests are garbage because they take too long to get results back so they aren't actionable. This has nothing to do with the scientific/diagnostic/technical capability of the tests (which is a separate issue with antibody testing but not with PCR testing, which is what Gates is discussing). I get that it gets more clicks, but the obvious interpretation for the person who looks at the title and doesn't scroll over halfway down the page is that "Gates says COVID diagnostic tests don't work, so I guess if he's right, then there's no point trying to scale up testing or anything since the tests are garbage anyway." The takeaway is the opposite - the results aren't getting back fast enough, we need better prioritization and capacity.

Especially with how much misinformation is spreading regarding this pandemic, and how many lives are on the line, Wired should reconsider its title policy and change the headline to reflect the content in their own article rather than imply dangerous misinformation to grab attention.

Edit: On the offchance that the title on HN or on Wired gets changed, the original title that I am referring to is "Bill Gates on Covid: Most US Tests Are ‘Completely Garbage’"

That title is not reflective of the content of the article or the context of Bill Gates' statement in the interview.