The Alameda County Sheriff has told Tesla to not commit to its full operations in Fremont, California where one of its factories are situated. This is due to the efforts of haulting the spread of the global pandemic Coronavirus.
On Monday, the San Francisco Bay was put into shelter-in-place order which means that people are not allowed to go outside if there are no “essential activities” are involved like buying food.
In the order, other businesses particularly the “non essential” ones are said to be temporarily shut down, but Tesla continued its regular operations even if the order was released already.
Alameda County Sheriff called out the company via a Tweet on Tuesday.
Recently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sent an email to his employees in the same factory on San Francisco Bay and have said that the panic exceeds the virus itself.
First, I’d like to be super clear that if you feel the slightest bit ill or even uncomfortable, please don’t feel obligated to come to work. I will personally be at work, but that is just me. Totally ok if you want to stay home for any reason
A lot of rumours are flying around, but, to the best of our knowledge, no one at Tesla (over 56,000 people) has tested positive for COVID-19. I will inform you immediately if anything changes
My frank opinion remains that the harm from the coronavirus panic far exceeds that of the virus itself. If there is a massive redirection of medical resources out of proportion to the danger, it will result in less available care to those with critical medical needs, which does not serve the greater good
Excerpt from Elon Musk’s Email
Although he encouraged the employees to stay at home if they are not feeling well, but there was no clear statement if they will be paid for not reporting at work.