Billionaire Elon Musk has announced that he’s ready to sent ventilators to hospitals that are overwhelmed with coronavirus cases.
The eccentric CEO of SpaceX and Tesla announced in a tweet that the “FDA-approved” ventilators will be provided to hospitals for free, a promise he made earlier in March.
“We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. Will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Device & shipping cost are free. Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in a warehouse. Please [let] me or @Tesla know,” Musk wrote in a tweet.
US cases of the coronavirus as of March 31 reached nearly 182,000 with 3,699 deaths, figures that are only expected to rise.
Musk’s offer came just over two weeks since he offered to help make more ventilators should the US run out.
Back then, he told his Twitter followers that “if there is a shortage” he would step in to pick up the slack.
After a follower suggested that Musk should re-purpose his factory to produce ventilators, the SpaceX CEO tweeted in response, “We will make ventilators if there is a shortage.”
In addition to Musk, General Motors and Ford have also expressed their willingness to manufacture ventilators should the need arise.
So far, 1,000 ventilators from Musk have already been delivered to a California hospital. In addition, Tesla delivered 50,000 face masks to a University of Washington physician’s home to help provide much-needed personal protective equipment that is in short supply.
Musk has offered help even though he earlier downplayed the coronavirus threat on Twitter, writing that the panic over the pandemic was “dumb.”
Apart from providing ventilators, SpaceX has also started manufacturing face shields and hand sanitizers that are being donated to California hospitals.
CNBC reviewed an internal memo and it appears that the company had delivered 75 face shields to Cedars Sinai, located near the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
In contrast to respirator masks, face shields cover the whole face with a layer of plastic.
The company had reportedly also donated 100 “Tyvek” protective suits to the same hospital and is in the process of making a hand sanitizer that “complies with CDC guidelines and is effective at killing the COVID-19 coronavirus.”
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