Elon Musk says Tesla’s New York factory will make ventilators ‘as soon as humanly possible’ – Roadshow

Elon Musk is looking to help out with New York’s ventilator shortage.

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Days after offering 1,255 free ventilators to help deal with the coronavirus outbreak, Tesla boss Elon Musk said the company’s New York factory will restart to make more.

“Giga New York will reopen for ventilator production as soon as humanly possible. We will do anything in our power to help the citizens of New York,” he tweeted on Wednesday.

Giga New York will reopen for ventilator production as soon as humanly possible. We will do anything in our power to help the citizens of New York.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2020

Musk was replying to a follower who tweeted a video of Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak telling CNBC that Tesla is making one of the medical device company’s ventilators at its Fremont, California, factory.

The new strain of coronavirus, which can develop into a respiratory illness known as COVID-19, was discovered in Wuhan, China, in December and has spread worldwide in the months since. As of Thursday morning, it had infected more than 487,000 people and caused more than 22,000 deaths globally.

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Ventilators are vital in treating the illness, but New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday that the city — which is the US epicenter of the virus — got 400 of them from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but needs 30,000.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.