Current Events > Musk: *Keeps open Tesla Factory* "The coronavirus itself is not bad"

(+) Yeah! (+)

"compared to the panic. Stay at home if you want, but I'm coming into work".

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-03-16/coronavirus-tesla-fremont-factory-musk
Teslas Fremont electric vehicle assembly plant, which employs about 10,000 workers, will remain open despite the shelter in place lockdown issued by six Bay Area counties on Monday.
Alameda County has declared Tesla an essential business that is allowed to remain in operation, according to a county spokesman.
Whats essential about automobile manufacturing in the midst of a viral pandemic? Thats a good question, said spokesman Ray Kelly, promising more information would be forthcoming. Were in uncharted waters right now.
[...]
Im going in on [when my next shift starts] Thursday unless anything changes, one employee emailed The Times. Dont want to risk losing my job. But the main thing I am worried about is getting it and bringing it home to my senior parents 67 and 74 one of which has emphysema. But what [am] I supposed to do??
Musk minimized what he called the panic surrounding the new coronavirus.
My frank opinion is that the harm from the coronavirus panic far exceeds that of the virus itself, he wrote. He said that COVID-19 cases will not exceed 0.1% of the population.
I will personally be at work, but thats just me, he wrote, and ended the email with Id rather you were at home and not stressed, than at work and worried. Totally ok if you want to stay home for any reason."
[...]
Six Bay Area counties Monday issued a shelter at home order that effectively shuts down most business activity, except for a long list of essential businesses. Alameda County is home to the Fremont plant. Other counties include San Francisco and Santa Clara, the heart of Silicon Valley.
According to the Alameda County Public Health Department, businesses allowed to operate under the three-week order include healthcare operations; businesses that provide food, shelter, and social services, and other necessities of life for economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals; fresh and non-perishable food retailers (including convenience stores); pharmacies; child care facilities; gas stations; banks; laundry businesses and services necessary for maintaining the safety, sanitation and essential operation of a residence.
The order from the six counties also exempts gas stations and auto-supply, auto-repair, and related facilities.
Musk said to his knowledge no one at Tesla has tested positive for COVID-19. The Alameda health department said Monday that 258 cases with four deaths have occurred in the six counties, more than half of Californias case count.

Someone should really penis punch this guy...

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-calls-coronavirus-panic-dumb-2020-3
and
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-employees-email-coronavirus-less-deadly-car-crash-2020-3

Elon Musk told his SpaceX employees in an email Friday that their risk of dying from COVID-19 is way lower than it is from being killed in a car accident, Buzzfeed reported.
"As a basis for comparison, the risk of death from C19 is *vastly* less than the risk of death from driving your car home," Musk wrote, adding that the evidence he's seen about the severity of the outbreak "suggests that this is *not* within the top 100 health risks in the United States," according to Buzzfeed.
This isn't the first time Musk, who's the CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla, has weighed in on the topic. Last week, he tweeted that "the coronavirus panic is dumb."

What's more:
Musk's comments came the same day President Trump, after weeks of downplaying the coronavirus outbreak himself, declared it a national emergency, and as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to recommend that people minimize travel and visiting crowded public places, a practice known as "social distancing."
Lets see whether Musk faces the same backlash among liberals/progressives or not for this.

HiddenRoar posted...

"As a basis for comparison, the risk of death from C19 is *vastly* less than the risk of death from driving your car home," Musk wrote

Maybe if you're using Tesla's auto-pilot.

Luigi posted...

Maybe if you're using Tesla's auto-pilot.

and sleeping or not paying attention to the road at all like you're not supposed to do.

HiddenRoar posted...

Elon Musk told his SpaceX employees in an email Friday that their risk of dying from COVID-19 is way lower than it is from being killed in a car accident, Buzzfeed reported.

he really is a redditor

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Freddie_Mercury posted...

he really is a redditor

Before the term redditor, we just called them engineers.

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