Tesla CEO Elon Musk seems to be dealing with false news stories in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic we’re in. Previously, a story by the Financial Times had claimed Tesla had delivered the wrong kind of ventilator for coronavirus patients, rendering them useless. Afterwards, these claims were deemed false by the New York State Governor Cuomo and New York hospitals.
Now, first reported by Sacramento Bee, CNN has reported that more than 1,000 ventilators sent by Tesla to California hospitals hadn’t been received by hospitals. Apparently, a spokesperson for the California governor’s Office of Emergency Services told CNN on Wednesday, “The Administration is communicating every day with hospitals across the state about their ventilator supply and to date we have not heard of any hospital system that has received a ventilator directly from Tesla or Musk.”
However, Musk was quick to follow up and debunk the fake news by calling CNN out. He wrote, “What I find most surprising is that CNN still exists.
What I find most surprising is that CNN still exists
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2020
His next tweet shows an email exchange between Omead Afshar, Tesla’s Project Director, and Phillip Franks, who is the Director of System Operations and Support Services at the Los Angeles Country Department of Health Services.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2020
When asked about whether the ventilators went into use, Franks answers “They worked great during testing today. We will put these to use tomorrow. Thanks.”
Musk also tagged Governor Gavin Newsom in one of his tweets, asking him to “please fix this misunderstanding”.
.@GavinNewsom please fix this misunderstanding
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2020
Newsom hasn’t made any statements yet.
Story cited here.
