Tesla's New York Gigafactory begins ventilator production 'as soon as humanly possible'
- by Emilio Sims
- in Money
- — Mar 29, 2020
Mayor de Blasio tweeted his gratitude to Tesla's Elon Musk for pledging to donate hundreds of ventilators needed to save New York's coronavirus patients. Nurses have had to reuse masks and staff in at least one Manhattan hospital have been wearing trash bags as makeshift protective gear, the New York Post reported. COVID-19 attacks the lungs and can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome and pneumonia.
Cuomo had previously blasted President Trump Tuesday for only sending 400 ventilators to NY when he has said repeatedly that the state - which is by far the worst-hit by the virus in the USA - needs 30,000. This was reportedly not the case at Tesla headquarters at Palo Alto and other parts of the state where employees were given the option to work from home iatn the beginning of the month. Gov. Cuomo said that 7,000 more ventilators had been procured and the government had sent about 400, but it was not enough. "Working on that with Medtronic".
The comment came right after a follower tweeted a video of Medtronic CEO, Omar Ishrak who told the CNBC about Tesla making of the medical device company's ventilators at it's Fremont factory in California.
"We do make these critical care ventilators which are in very high demand".
Thus, in his last communication on the bird's network, the owner of Tesla, responded to the user @justpaulinelol with news about the fans, noting that "we hope to have more than 1,200 to distribute this week". The email further says: "Their direct coworkers, who were already working from home for almost two weeks as well, were immediately notified so they can quarantine and watch for symptoms".
Musk tweeted yesterday that Tesla's collaboration with Medtronic was "making good progress" and pledged that his company would now "do whatever is needed to help in these hard times".
The electric vehicles maker has also been producing ventilators at its Fremont factory after it similarly shut down under the state government's orders in California.
Tesla had bought hospital ventilators in China and shipped them to the United States, Musk had said on Tuesday. Gov. Gavin Newsom described the delivery as a heroic effort.
