COVID-19 at Tesla factory

Musk restarted operations near San Francisco last May, despite a quarantine imposed by state authorities. He was supported by former President Trump. After that, a COVID-19 outbreak occurred at the plant.

Hundreds of cases of coronavirus infection have been detected at the Tesla Bay Area plant near San Francisco, which company founder Elon Musk defiantly launched in May 2020, despite quarantine measures. This was reported by The Washington Post, citing data from the Alameda County Health Department.

The outbreak of COVID-19 at the new Tesla facility was known almost as soon as it opened. However, authorities initially did not publish exact figures, citing a law on personal data protection.

Disclosure website PlainSite has obtained a document which shows that in May last year, around ten people were identified as sick at the plant just after it opened. Their numbers continued to grow, reaching 125 people infected in December.

According to WP, about 450 cases of COVID-19 were reported at Tesla Bay Area during the eight months of operation in 2020. In total, almost 10,000 people work at the plant.

In April, when pandemic health restrictions were imposed in California and other US states, Musk harshly criticised the actions of the authorities. He called them fascist and demanded to be allowed to open Tesla plant in spite of the quarantine.

At the beginning of May businessman was going to move company's headquarters and part of production facilities from California to Texas or Nevada. The refusal of the state authorities to allow him to open a factory he called unconstitutional and contrary to common sense.

Two days later, Trump demanded that California authorities allow the plant to open. "California must allow Tesla and Elon Musk to open the plant now. It can be done quickly and safely", the head of state said.

Immediately afterwards, Musk said on Twitter that he was resuming production in Alamide in defiance of the quarantine. He warned that he remains in touch with all employees and asked that in case of any action by the authorities, such as arrests, he be contacted directly.