Elon Musk against coronavirus: entrepreneur redesigns plants for the production of ventilators
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said on Twitter that his plants will be reprofiled for the production of ventilators if there is a shortage caused by an outbreak of coronavirus.
One of Twitter users wrote:
«Please repurpose your factory to make ventilators which are needed ASAP», — wrote Raja Abbas. «I am a Tesla owner and love the company. You have to stop being an idiot about this. This is a massive disaster. Ask the doctors in the field».
Please repurpose your factory to make ventilators which are needed ASAP. I am a Tesla owner and love the company. You have to stop being an idiot about this. This is a massive disaster. Ask the doctors in the field.
— Raja Sohail Abbas (@suhaylabbas) March 19, 2020
Musk replied that they would start producing ventilators if necessary.
FiveThirtyEight’s editor-in-chief, Nate Silver, challenged Musk and also tweeted that at the moment there is a shortage, and asked how many devices Elon Musk makes”.
Musk replied that the technical components manufactured at his Tesla and SpaceX factories were more “sophisticated,” and the ventilators aren’t so complicated by comparison.
Experts warn that America will be facing a shortage of critical supplies in the coming months as the coronavirus continues to spread, causing a disease called COVID-19. As of Wednesday evening, over 9,400 cases of coronavirus and more than 150 deaths were reported in the United States.
Ventilation devices have a key role in the treatment of respiratory diseases such as COVID-19. A February report by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security found that there were about 170,000 ventilators in the US, of which 160,000 were ready for use in hospitals, and about 8,900 were stored in the national reserve.
At this moment (evening of March 19th) there are already more than 218,000 cases of this virus. About 9,000 people have died from the coronavirus. Recovered — 84,000.
