
Tesla has already started making cars again at its California factory - contemporary343
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/11/21254871/tesla-fremont-shutdown-factory-production-model-3-y-elon-musk
======
dmode
Over the last 2 months, I have lost all respect for Elon. And I have a long
history of Tesla / Elon fanboi-ism in HN. I am also a Tesla owner. But the
recent twitter tirade from Elon absolutely broke me. He predicted "zero cases"
in April from COVID, and has simply doubled down in conspiracy theories since
that tweet. Everyday he relentlessly retweets conspiracy theories about COVID
deaths and concludes half truths and lies about the virus.

He also suddenly found his "Free America" spirits, while being completely numb
about how the Chinese government shutdown its cities and lied about the virus.

Now it is all starting to fall in place. When I bought my car in late 2016,
Elon promised FSD in 3-6 months. We are still decades away from FSD and my
Tesla still randomly phantom brakes on Autopilot

This factory saga is the latest where he unleashed his followers to wreck
havoc on a county health officer, who is anyways under pressure of re-opening.
And of course, not to mention that he has no concerns about workers in the
factory.

I think the conclusion is fairly simple - Elon is not special. He is the same
old.

~~~
andrekandre
his recent interview on joe rogan was also a bit wierd, saying that most of of
the cases are fake so that hospitals can get more money...

i found that a bit wierd because he was complaining about twitter where people
just say things without evidence, and there he was saying things without
presenting any evidence...

~~~
nickysielicki
> In cases where a definite diagnosis of COVID–19 cannot be made, but it is
> suspected or likely (e.g., the circumstances are compelling within a
> reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID–19 on a
> death certificate as “probable” or “presumed.” In these instances,
> certifiers should use their best clinical judgement in determining if a
> COVID–19 infection was likely.

source:
[https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf)

> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday released new
> guidance implementing several provisions included in the Coronavirus Aid,
> Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. These provisions include:

> \+ A Medicare add-on payment of 20% for both rural and urban inpatient
> hospital COVID-19 patients;

> \+ Waiver of the long-term care hospital (LTCH) site-neutral policy for
> COVID-19 patients;

> \+ Waiver of the LTCH “50% Rule” for COVID-19 patients; and

> \+ Waiver of the inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) “3-hour Rule” for
> COVID-19 patients.

source: [https://www.aha.org/advisory/2020-04-16-coronavirus-
update-c...](https://www.aha.org/advisory/2020-04-16-coronavirus-update-cms-
releases-guidance-implementing-cares-act-provisions)

It's very clear that this is _potentially_ happening on a mass scale. There is
nothing preventing it from happening, at least, and the hospitals are under
serious financial pressure due to the inability to perform elective surgeries.
You cannot invalidate what he's saying. It's easy to chalk that up as yet
another conspiracy theory. But at the same time, why _wouldn 't_ a hospital
take advantage of programs like this? There's very little threat of it coming
back to bite them -- there's no enforcement.

~~~
dmode
I don't understand this accusation. There should be a very easy way to see if
COVID deaths are over-reported by comparing with last year's death numbers,
isn't it ? Unless, we believe magically more people are dying this year due to
heart attacks or respiratory diseases

[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronav...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronavirus-
missing-deaths.html)

~~~
nickysielicki
> Unless, we believe magically more people are dying this year due to heart
> attacks or respiratory diseases

I wouldn't say it's "magic" but I do think that this year has been very
abnormal to the point that mortality rates aren't directly comparable.

Nobody is saying coronavirus isn't real. A lot of people are dying from it,
but that doesn't mean it can't be overreported.

~~~
dmode
If you are trying to say that there is a global conspiracy across multiple
nations to over count COVID deaths, you have do better than say "this year has
been weird" to account for excessive deaths.

~~~
nickysielicki
A "global conspiracy"? I feel like you're arguing in bad faith.

------
KKKKkkkk1
_“I love my job personally, just tired of feeling like a chess piece,” this
[Fremont employee] said. They also said they wouldn’t feel safe assembling
cars right now because it requires such close-quarters work. “We get lured in
by the ‘Tesla Dream’ of saving the planet only to get treated so poorly that
even though I love my job, I’m not willing to risk my health for him.”_

Silicon Valley used to be famous for people like Bill Hewlett and David
Packard, Andy Grove and Gordon Moore, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In the
latest generation, we have people like Zuck and Peter Thiel and Elon. No
wonder our reputation is worse than Wall Street's.

~~~
boznz
I dont think this view represents the majority. My cousin and her husband work
there and are quite frankly going gaga at home and chomping at the bit to go
back.

Although it is a big factory they work quite spaced out in their departments.
The health officials in CA must have found some issues they were not aware of,
but due to talk tomorrow so will be interesting to see their point of view on
the latest developments.

~~~
quotemstr
> I dont think this view represents the majority.

The media has developed a bad habit of amplifying the views of tiny
discontented activist minorities inside major companies and presenting their
opinions (which are often radical) as if they were typical of the majority.
After seeing many examples of this kind of total distortion over the years, I
simply can't believe any reports about what employees at major companies
think.

------
thatfrenchguy
This article from the NYT
([https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/business/coronavirus-
elon...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/business/coronavirus-elon-musk-
tesla-california.html) ) seem to indicate that all of that fuss was to open a
week early because Musk really wanted to.

Somewhat pathetic to sue your local government for that.

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
I'm not saying I'm fully behind Musk here, but the May 18th reopening date
comes from an anonymous county official who told the Times about some
nonspecific negotiations they were having, so I think it needs to be taken
with a grain of salt. The county's official stay-at-home order isn't set to
expire until June.

~~~
dekhn
The official wasn't anonymous. Here's his bio:
[https://www.acgov.org/board/district1/about.htm](https://www.acgov.org/board/district1/about.htm)
which seems to suggest this is exactly the sort of person who would be
involved in such negotiations. I wouldn't take that with a grain of salt.

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
Fair. The article I read said he was anonymous but I do see his name is
available in other sources.

------
kanox
Damn
[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259945593805221891](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259945593805221891)

> Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be
> on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be
> me.

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
I'm not sure how I feel about having it come from the rich and powerful, but I
have to grudgingly admit that this is a true attempt at civil disobedience. If
the health concerns are as severe as Alameda County says, they can and should
arrest him.

~~~
tenpies
It's not civil disobedience. It's "Tesla has such a liquidity problem that if
we wait another week it'll go bankrupt and my net worth will be negative".

Also note that he's opening at 100% (not 30% staff) and seems to have taken
zero measures "learned from Shanghai". I'm guessing when his plane arrives
he'll bring in a couple of masks for the photo ops.

------
mips_avatar
Move the HQ to Nevada! I would like to live in a world where you can live
other places than the Bay area/Seattle/NYC and work for great companies.

~~~
tenpies
You think Tesla is a great company?

~~~
fasteddie31003
Probably one of the most influential companies ever IMO. Tesla needs another
decade to totally revolutionize sustainable transportation.

~~~
new_realist
So three decades total? That’s not a revolution. That’s a reaction to slowly
evolving government policies. Thank the governments of the world for the
change you see.

------
rogerkirkness
Tesla already executed on the changes needed extremely quickly in China, where
they seem to have done both 1. Much more successful and effective lockdowns
and 2. Brought things back online competently fast.

Seems like policy makers in the US fail on both counts, no?

~~~
Traster
I think you're making a massive mistake comparing 'the US' and China for a
whole number of reasons. Firstly, The US has 246 deaths per million people,
New York has 1381 deaths per million, California has 69 deaths per million
people. So if we're actually staying on topic of the California plant,
actually California is an example of the US doing relatively well. And the
reason they're doing well is _because_ of their stringent lock down rules. In
fact California probably is doing better than China did in reality - because
China's deaths per million is stated as 58 and that's clearly a number no one
really beleives.

Secondly you need to think about the fact that Musk is going ballistic about
the US being a totalitarian state- and we're meant to be looking at _China_ as
the comparison? Really? I'd love to see a Chinese CEO make statements about
the Chinese government like Musk makes about the US.

Finally, the government isn't even saying that Tesla shouldn't reopen the
plant, they're just working on making sure they're doing it safely. And you
should be listening to the government about this, because it's been pretty
conclusively demonstrated by Musk that he can't be trusted on this topic.

~~~
credit_guy
> China's deaths per million is stated as 58 and that's clearly a number no
> one really believes.

China's Covid19 deaths per 1 million is actually 3, not 58. As of today, 4633
deaths for a population of 1.4 BN. Maybe that's manipulated, but it's hard to
believe they are hiding 95% of the deaths.

So, yes, in the matter of Covid19, we should better look at China as the
comparison. Did you see drones checking if people are wearing masks? Did you
see temperature checks when people enter various buildings. Photos where
absolutely everybody is wearing a mask, fully covering their nose (not like in
the US where they wear it under their chin many times). Rapid testing, people
being escorted to a quarantine center, etc, etc.

Now, I am not arguing in favor or Tesla resuming production. I don't know much
about this to have an opinion. But strictly on the topic whether we should
admire the Chinese response to the Covid19 infection, I think we should give
credit where credit is due.

