The entire world has seemingly ground to a halt amid fears of a global coronavirus pandemic. Groceries stores can't keep pasta and meat on the shelves for more than a few minutes, people are stockpiling hand sanitizers, and toilet paper now seems like a viable alternative to investing in the S&P 500.
As the virus spreads from country to country and town to town, every industry has felt the effects. And the automotive industry is no different, with the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini having shuttered their factories in Italy and American automakers largely doing the same here in the United States. All except for Tesla, apparently, which has reportedly kept its Fremont, California, factory humming despite a shelter-in-place order for the entire San Francisco Bay Area.
Sheriff Says So
The Alameda County Sheriff's clearly heard enough claims that Elon Musk was not enforcing the shelter-in-place order for his employees that the department's official Twitter account posted an update to clarify the situation. And no, it turns out that trying to save humanity by attempting to spearhead a revolution doesn't count as "essential business" when compared to the mandates of widespread social health considerations.
Get To Work
Elon Musk has long been famous for pushing both himself and his employees to the breaking point as he tries to single-handedly will his company into a future-facing market position. But Tesla's Fremont factory employs over 10,000 people, as reported by Autoblog, so it's hard to imagine how well social distancing would go—despite widespread automation that makes it possible for those 10,000 people to oversee the robots as they built about 415,000 cars in 2019.
All One Or None
The coronavirus pandemic has led to serious changes in this country's way of life in an attempt to flatten the curve so that emergency medical workers, facilities, and specialized equipment won't be overwhelmed by a large number of expected infections. Even if just one percent of Tesla's Fremont crew comes down with COVID-19, that would still be more than enough to overwhelm neighboring hospitals—which is exactly why law enforcement is coming down so hard on Elon Musk and his draconian work ethic.
Sources: Autoblog, Twitter