Tesla’s Fremont, California remains open in violation of Alameda County’s shelter-in-place order..
The Alameda County Sheriff has ordered Tesla Inc. to stop building cars at its Fremont, California plant.
“Tesla is not an essential business as defined in the Alameda County Health Order. Tesla can maintain minimum basic operations per the Alameda County Health Office,” the sheriff tweeted.
Tesla had tried to get around an order imposed by local officials throughout the Bay Area to “shelter in place,” which requires the region’s nearly 9 million residents not to go out except for to fetch groceries or walk a dog.
(Gas prices tumble as the coronavirus strikes U.S.)
Tesla officials told employees that the shelter-in-place order didn’t affect the Fremont plant.
On Monday, Alameda County directed businesses in the county to “cease all activities at facilities located within the County except Minimum Basic Operations” — like processing payroll. The Bay Area shelter in place order was designed with the advice of public-health professionals and is aimed at preventing the spread of the lethal COVID-19 virus.
The order didn’t sit well with Tesla founder Elon Musk, who told Tesla employees not to report for work if they “felt sick” but said he would be at work on Tuesday, according to several accounts.
The sheriff’s order is a major blow to Musk and Tesla, which have struggled with financial problems, at a time when the Fremont factory is Tesla’s only significant auto manufacturing facility outside of China. The Chinese plant, which was just beginning to build vehicles, was forced to shut last month as part of the Chinese effort to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
(Shareholder $2.2B lawsuit against Elon Musk postponed due to coronavirus.)
The factory has been building Model 3 vehicles every week and had just begun making the Model Y crossover.
Tesla officials claim the plant is considered an “essential” business. Alameda County officials disagree.
Before the sheriff’s tweet, Tesla’s human resources head Valerie Workman, according to a number of accounts, told employees in an email that she believed Tesla would be considered an “essential business” and therefore would be exempt from the order to close.
Tesla’s automotive manufacturing businesses did not appear to directly fit the language of an “essential business” in the text of the order, but Workman told employees that the Department of Homeland Security considers it to be “National Critical Infrastructure.”
(Tesla CEO Musk looking for a new site for a new U.S. Gigafactory.)
Nearly 9 million people in Northern California were under orders to “shelter in place” or stay home as much as possible on Wednesday, an ambitious and restrictive effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.