Coronavirus: Tesla Donating Free Ventilators To Hospitals Worldwide
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Amid a shortage of ventilators needed to handle the surge of coronavirus patients, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk Tuesday reported that his company had extra ventilators on hand that it will donate to hospitals worldwide.
In a tweet Tuesday morning, Musk said the company had "FDA-approved" ventilators that it would ship for free worldwide "within Tesla delivery regions."
"Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in a warehouse," Musk wrote.
To obtain the ventilators, Musk requested that hospital officials respond on Twitter either directly to him or to Tesla.
It's unclear exactly how many ventilators are available.
Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that Musk had committed to donate hundreds of ventilators to New York City and New York state.
On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state currently has 4,252 ventilators, but has a goal of reaching 10,000.
"I just wanna encourage folks, if you have a line on ventilators, it doesn't matter if they're brand new, maybe you have a few pieces lying around your basement or the house, I don't need to be flippant, we'll take them," Newsom said. "We've got the folks here in Silicon Valley that can do miracles with old equipment."