
Tesla Plans on Staying Open Despite Shelter in Place - rootedbox
https://www.sfgate.com/cnet/article/Tesla-plant-to-reportedly-stay-open-despite-15136428.php
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KKKKkkkk1
_Tesla 's electric vehicle assembly plant in Fremont, California, will
continue to operate as usual, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday, despite
shelter-in-place guidance issued by six San Francisco Bay Area counties
earlier in the day designed to hobble the spread of the coronavirus. Alameda
County, where the Tesla plant employs about 10,000 workers, has been deemed an
"essential business," a county spokesman told the newspaper._

If Tesla is deemed an essential business, why is Jimmy's Bar and Grill being
forced to close? IMHO this is a prime example of recklessly corrupt government
conduct.

~~~
gambler
If you shut down Jimmy's Bar and Grill for 1 month, it can be reopened 1 month
later. The only thing you would need for that is some money (a loan, possibly)
and food.

If you shut down a factory, this affects every single company that sells them
parts down the production chain and everyone who buys factory's product up the
production chain. You also affect every single business that services those
factories, including equipment manufacturers, maintenance and delivery. You
also affect other customers of all those companies if loss of part of their
business forces them to shut down.

Meanwhile, you're not producing parts and you're not maintaining equipment. So
when the virus is over, there is no clear path to restart the whole thing.

~~~
mcguire
" _If you shut down Jimmy 's Bar and Grill for 1 month, it can be reopened 1
month later._"

Actually, it can't. To reopen, it will have to replace spoiled supplies and
hire new employees. And that is assuming Jimmy hasn't gone bankrupt in the
meantime, which is hardly out of the question.

If you shut down every bar and grill in the city, you affect every distributor
and supplier, including equipment manufacturers, maintenance, and delivery,
and all of their other customers if they are forced out of business.

Yes, the only thing you would need for any of this is some money, but that's
true for everything.

------
pmoriarty
From an article written 4 days ago:

 _Elon Musk sent a memo to SpaceX employees on Friday underplaying the dangers
of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, which is now
considered a pandemic, according to a report from BuzzFeed News._

 _Musk 's email, sent earlier today, told employees of the space transport
company that they were far more likely to die from a car crash than COVID-19,
the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. He also said that, based on the
evidence he had seen about COVID-19, he doesn't think it's "within the top 100
health risks in the United States."_

 _The email follows a tweet Musk sent last week saying "the coronavirus panic
is dumb."_

[https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21179291/elon-musk-
corona...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21179291/elon-musk-coronavirus-
tesla-memo-car-accident-deaths-comparison)

~~~
patrickyeon
Interesting way to spin that: "CEO of a car company says cars are more likely
to kill you than this pandemic."

I think he's wrong, and it's got to be hyperbole to say "not within the top
100 health risks" given the 15th place per the CDC was responsible for 20K
deaths last year[0]. Actually, if you figure that the next 85 causes all split
the rest of the deaths evenly (not reasonable, but puts an absolute upper
bound on the 100th cause's mortality) they would clock in at ~6600 deaths
each.

Soooo... I dunno. I'm not exactly surprised Elon seems straight up wrong about
this, and that it sounds like he's prioritizing keeping SpaceX and Tesla at
full operations over the health of so many people.

0:
[https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf)
Table B

~~~
whatshisface
Tesla and SpaceX are financially designed to run so hot that if they shut down
for half a year they might not come back. This also applies to a lot of other
businesses.

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caconym_
Factories like this do seem that they might be better suited for operating
during semi-lockdown conditions than e.g. offices. Large, ventilated spaces,
probably more separation between employees, etc. If I were looking at a
stepped reduction in lockdown conditions for businesses, I'd look at
operations like this first.

That said, I think the prudent thing right now is a complete shutdown of non-
essential (and it's nonsense to say these factories are "essential")
businesses until we see a blunting of the infection curve. When we've measured
an effective baseline response to full lockdown conditions, _then_ we can
start thinking about what to bring back online.

~~~
t0mas88
Depends a lot on how people get to that factory. If they take public transport
I think you're exposing a lot of people to a lot of contact.

~~~
anoncareer0212
even worse, Tesla buses them there, look at the scene this morning:
[https://twitter.com/russ1mitchell/status/1239976885867573249...](https://twitter.com/russ1mitchell/status/1239976885867573249?s=20)

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thrill
About the most bullshit "essential business" call I've seen.

~~~
xkjkls
It depends on what they are making. If they are still manufacturing cars,
yeah, thats bullshit. If they are keeping a light staff to manufacture
replacement parts so that their current fleet can be prepared, that's more
understandable.

~~~
thrill
IF they are making life saving medical supplies, then it's valid. Preparing
for future sales is not an "essential business".

~~~
xkjkls
Car repairs can end up being pretty essential. Any doctor with a Tesla might
need to get to work.

~~~
sushid
If we're splitting hair like that then practically any company is "pretty
essential."

~~~
xkjkls
Having some semblance of transportation is essential for alot of people in a
way things like entertainment events or bar life is not.

------
Animats
The United Auto Workers is demanding a 2-week shutdown of auto plants in
Detroit. Meeting with the bosses at 6 PM today in Detroit.

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etaioinshrdlu
Utterly shameless. I think Silicon Valley would do well to stop glorifying
hyper aggression as a way of business and a way of life.

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dr_dshiv
I sympathize. Shelter in place is a death warrant for many. Businesses can't
always be paused. They say 2 weeks, but this will be months. This isn't a
Hollywood film where we must do whatever we can, no matter the cost.

What we need are improvements on existing models [1] that take into account
cost/benefit of the spread among non-vulnerable. If the vulnerable are locked
down, there may be benefits from the increase in immunity. For instance, if I
got infected now, I could go help my mother in a month. Otherwise, it could
literally be years before it would be safe to see her.

[1]
[https://colab.sandbox.google.com/drive/1HDYojyKvxHtKzkViorO-...](https://colab.sandbox.google.com/drive/1HDYojyKvxHtKzkViorO-
hqb3_fL1DfC4#scrollTo=qVswZB8xLt91)

~~~
chmaynard
> Businesses can't always be paused.

Yes they can, if directed to do so. Will they incur a cost? Of course. It's
part of the cost of doing business in a regulated economy.

~~~
dr_dshiv
I meant they can't always be paused without dying, that's all. But yes, they
can certainly be stopped, no doubt.

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chmaynard
Would you buy a car from this man? Not me. I was first in line with a deposit
on the day after Musk announced the Model 3. After I came to my senses, I
asked for my deposit back and sold my Tesla stock.

~~~
xedeon
I'm sure your deposit made a huge dent in sales. Good job.

~~~
chmaynard
Just to clarify, I have nothing against Tesla and I wish them success. But as
long as Musk is in charge, I will stay away from Tesla and their products.
Musk is a brilliant entrepreneur and salesman, but he is a terrible CEO. The
best thing the Tesla board could do is to throw him out.

------
chmaynard
I, for one, welcome our new corporate overlord.

------
roflchoppa2
the hype machine must continue! model y is now released! bounce that stock
value back up!

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bryanlarsen
Tesla has experience with effective coronavirus prevention measures due to its
experience in China: [https://insideevs.com/news/404105/tesla-anti-
coronavirus-gig...](https://insideevs.com/news/404105/tesla-anti-coronavirus-
gigafactory-3/)

IMO they should still shut down to implement these measures and figure out
safe employee transport.

~~~
FireBeyond
That's a slippery slope - are we going to go into each business and allow them
to be open if they have "effective prevention measures in place"?

Really, this is just "Tesla has more clout in Alameda than most other
businesses".

~~~
Robotbeat
Actually, yes, we should. This is going to last literally months, and so we
must find out how to operate under these conditions.

Shutting down literally everything but grocery stores for months will not only
kill the economy, it will kill people.

~~~
FireBeyond
Agreed, however:

Who should be the ones to make those decisions?

a) Public health officials, or

b) Tesla saying "We're safe. Change my mind." and opening regardless?

~~~
Robotbeat
a, City and Public Heath Officials. The same ones that greenlighted Tesla
Fremont staying open.

EDIT: For the record, I think Tesla should be a LOT more aggressive in
applying Gigafactory China COVID-19 countermeasures to US operations, and the
city ought to pressure them on this.

