Elon Musk Donates Ventilators to LA

SpaceX founder Elon Musk delivered 1,255 ventilators to Los Angeles from China to help hospitals cope with surges in coronavirus cases. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged the acquisition on Monday.  

“I told you a few days ago [Musk] was likely to have 1,000 ventilators this week,” according to Bloomberg. “They arrived in Los Angeles and Elon Musk is already working with the hospital association and others to get those ventilators out in real time. It’s a heroic effort.”

“Yup, China had an oversupply, so we bought 1255 FDA-approved ResMed, Philips & Medtronic ventilators on Friday night & airshipped them to LA,” Musk tweeted. “If you want a free ventilator installed, please let us know!”

Musk was initially dismissive of the notion of a ventilator shortage. The head of Tesla had called the pandemic panic “dumb” and incorrectly asserted that children were “essentially immune.” He also argued with officials about “shelter-in-place” restrictions before finally pausing production at his Tesla assembly plant in Alameda County.