Tesla Plans on Staying Open Despite Shelter in Place

<i>Tesla&#x27;s electric vehicle assembly plant in Fremont, California, will continue to operate as usual, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday, despite shelter-in-place guidance issued by six San Francisco Bay Area counties earlier in the day designed to hobble the spread of the coronavirus. Alameda County, where the Tesla plant employs about 10,000 workers, has been deemed an &quot;essential business,&quot; a county spokesman told the newspaper.</i><p>If Tesla is deemed an essential business, why is Jimmy&#x27;s Bar and Grill being forced to close? IMHO this is a prime example of recklessly corrupt government conduct.

From an article written 4 days ago:<p><i>Elon Musk sent a memo to SpaceX employees on Friday underplaying the dangers of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, which is now considered a pandemic, according to a report from BuzzFeed News.</i><p><i>Musk&#x27;s email, sent earlier today, told employees of the space transport company that they were far more likely to die from a car crash than COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. He also said that, based on the evidence he had seen about COVID-19, he doesn&#x27;t think it&#x27;s &quot;within the top 100 health risks in the United States.&quot;</i><p><i>The email follows a tweet Musk sent last week saying &quot;the coronavirus panic is dumb.&quot;</i><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theverge.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;3&#x2F;13&#x2F;21179291&#x2F;elon-musk-coronavirus-tesla-memo-car-accident-deaths-comparison" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theverge.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;3&#x2F;13&#x2F;21179291&#x2F;elon-musk-corona...</a>

Factories like this do seem that they might be better suited for operating during semi-lockdown conditions than e.g. offices. Large, ventilated spaces, probably more separation between employees, etc. If I were looking at a stepped reduction in lockdown conditions for businesses, I&#x27;d look at operations like this first.<p>That said, I think the prudent thing right now is a complete shutdown of non-essential (and it&#x27;s nonsense to say these factories are &quot;essential&quot;) businesses until we see a blunting of the infection curve. When we&#x27;ve measured an effective baseline response to full lockdown conditions, <i>then</i> we can start thinking about what to bring back online.

About the most bullshit &quot;essential business&quot; call I&#x27;ve seen.

The United Auto Workers is demanding a 2-week shutdown of auto plants in Detroit. Meeting with the bosses at 6 PM today in Detroit.

Utterly shameless. I think Silicon Valley would do well to stop glorifying hyper aggression as a way of business and a way of life.

I sympathize. Shelter in place is a death warrant for many. Businesses can&#x27;t always be paused. They say 2 weeks, but this will be months. This isn&#x27;t a Hollywood film where we must do whatever we can, no matter the cost.<p>What we need are improvements on existing models [1] that take into account cost&#x2F;benefit of the spread among non-vulnerable. If the vulnerable are locked down, there may be benefits from the increase in immunity. For instance, if I got infected now, I could go help my mother in a month. Otherwise, it could literally be years before it would be safe to see her.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;colab.sandbox.google.com&#x2F;drive&#x2F;1HDYojyKvxHtKzkViorO-hqb3_fL1DfC4#scrollTo=qVswZB8xLt91" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;colab.sandbox.google.com&#x2F;drive&#x2F;1HDYojyKvxHtKzkViorO-...</a>

Would you buy a car from this man? Not me. I was first in line with a deposit on the day after Musk announced the Model 3. After I came to my senses, I asked for my deposit back and sold my Tesla stock.

I, for one, welcome our new corporate overlord.

the hype machine must continue! model y is now released! bounce that stock value back up!

Tesla has experience with effective coronavirus prevention measures due to its experience in China: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;insideevs.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;404105&#x2F;tesla-anti-coronavirus-gigafactory-3&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;insideevs.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;404105&#x2F;tesla-anti-coronavirus-gig...</a><p>IMO they should still shut down to implement these measures and figure out safe employee transport.