On March 7 local time, Elon Musk picked up the phone to post on Twitter:
The assessment from this man who possesses both power and influence was both right and wrong.
It was right in the sense that the “panic” was a mistake, as some people, driven by fear, rushed to stockpile toilet paper. There were also cases where individuals, wanting to prevent illness, recklessly took drugs used in the treatment of Covid-19 under strict protocols and dosages, resulting in fatalities.
It was wrong because right after this statement, emails were sent to SpaceX and Tesla, echoing the tone of the above Twitter post, claiming that the Covid-19 pandemic was not that concerning, based on data he had read. He even compared the death risk from the disease to be lower than the risk of dying in a car ride home, which was another erroneous statement. However, in the email, Musk did remind employees to self-isolate if they showed any symptoms of illness. A spokesperson for SpaceX and Tesla had no comment on this statement.
A few days passed, and Musk was busy with the Falcon 9 rocket engine landing project, talking with ArsTechnica reporters about the rocket manufacturing plant aimed at conquering Mars, congratulating the Tesla team for completing the 1 millionth electric vehicle, and casually updating the status of projects, when this man’s awareness changed.
Elon Musk had a different thought, dismissing the erroneous assessment about Covid-19 from ten days ago, and said something that immediately indicated what Musk was worried about:
There it was, Musk finally understood where his Twitter post was right. Immediately, Musk took the first steps in the fight against the corona virus. First, he listened to what experts were saying and then posted some information about research on the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
Two days ago, Elon Musk had a discussion with engineers from the medical device company Medtronic about the production processes of ventilators. SpaceX and Tesla will be able to produce ventilators, as their factories are already capable of making modern air filtration systems for both cars and spacecraft.
Musk stated that Tesla has 250,000 N95 masks in stock to supply to hospitals. And it doesn’t stop there; the billionaire just spent money to buy 1,255 ventilators from China and donated 1,000 devices for free to hospitals in California. He mentioned that the equipment supplier in China had a surplus of ventilators and was ready to sell them in an emergency.
What about the remaining 255 ventilators? Musk posted on Twitter, “if you want a ventilator for free, contact us“. Certainly, in the current situation where Covid-19 is rampant, this will be a valuable source of assistance.
President Donald Trump also acknowledged the efforts of Tesla along with some other automotive manufacturers like Ford and General Motors in producing ventilators. Although GM and Ford have not confirmed any changes to their production lines to manufacture ventilators, GM has indicated that they recently partnered with Ventec to produce breathing equipment.
Two weeks after the Twitter post that angered many, Elon Musk had a completely different attitude towards Covid-19. He is doing what he can to assist in the fight against Covid-19, and after speaking with the engineers from Medtronic, Musk said that assembly plants would be able to produce ventilators within the next 10 weeks.
Elon Musk has recognized his mistakes and is trying to rectify them with very practical actions. Certainly, in the context of the global Covid-19 pandemic not yet peaking, ventilators will be an effective “tool” in the long and costly battle.
