Many Tesla workers test positive for Covid-19 after Elon Musk opened Fremont factory defying lockdown: Reports
After Elon Musk publicly defied the guidelines laid down by local officials regarding the coronavirus lockdown and resumed production at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory, 'several' of his employees have tested positive for COVID-19.
Two anonymous workers told the Washington Post that supervisors held team meetings recently where they disclosed that at least two employees were confirmed to have tested positive for the virus and they had been told to stay at home. The employees in question worked at the electric vehicle manufacturer’s seat assembly facility, which is near the main production plant in Fremont. One of the employees worked in the morning shift, while the other worked the evening shift at the facility. The outlet's report has not been confirmed by Tesla and the Post did not mention how or when the employees tested positive.
On the heels of the Post's report, the electric transportation site Electrek reported that four Tesla workers tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday alone. The update was provided to the site by an anonymous worker. Tesla also has not verified the second outlet's report as of yet.
Musk has been locked in a heated battle with local Alameda County sheriff and the Fremont Police Department over the closure of his Fremont plant. After Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) issued a statewide stay-at-home order due to the coronavirus, the tech mogul was forced to close the plant and send his employees home. However, the battle to reopen his factory restarted in May. After Tesla sued Alameda County, on the 11th of last month, Musk declared that he would be restarting production that day, defying Alameda County’s shelter-in-place order. He added, “If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.”
After the lawsuit was dropped, Tesla and Alameda County came to an agreement on May 18, wherein Musk could formally restart production in his factory given that he followed social distancing and other precautions to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The guidelines included spreading the employees out in multiple shifts, wearing masks, and limiting human contact. In addition, Tesla had to report any positive coronavirus cases to the Alameda County Public Health Department. But according to the unnamed employee who spoke to Electrek, the guidelines were pretty much thrown down the drains when the full force of work resumed.
“We’re still working on top of each other,” the worker told the outlet. “All they do is make us wear a mask in a hot factory. They take our temperature and have us use hand sanitizer when we walk in. But obviously, that isn’t working.” According to another worker who spoke to the Post, there was “no social distancing at all when clocking in/out [because] people are...in a hurry to go home or get back to their work station. It’s like nothing but with a mask on.”
Also, according to the Post, there might have been cases of employees testing positive that were never reported to the county since Tesla had already restarted operations a week before acquiring formal approval. And the signed agreement never said anything about having to report previously identified cases. Alameda County spokeswoman Neetu Balram told the outlet of a loophole where if a person who tested positive was not a resident of the county, “we would not have that case reported to us.” Balram said so far Tesla had no known workplace-related infections of county residents.