SpaceX said to quarantine some employees after positive coronavirus tests
SpaceX, the space transportation company headed by Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, has reportedly quarantined at least 12 employees after two people working at its facility in Hawthorne tested positive for coronavirus.
The SpaceX employees were notified on Monday about the positive coronovirus tests, according to a report in the British publication The Telegraph. One of the employees that tested positive was said to have recently been traveling abroad, according to a SpaceX email that the Telegraph said it had seen.
SpaceX didn’t immediately return a request for comment. The company employees approximately 7,000 people.
Musk had garnered a mixed bag of attention during the coronavirus crisis. On Monday, Tesla shut down vehicle production at its plant in Fremont after keeping operations open for several days following a shelter-in-place order that covered Alameda County and permitted only businesses such as grocery stores and medical facilities to remain open. Musk also tweeted earlier this month that “The coronavirus panic is dumb.”
But, Musk also said earlier this week that he had obtained more than 1,200 ventilators from sources in China and had them air-shipped for use in U.S. hospitals.
“If you want a free ventilator installed, please let us know,” Musk tweeted on Monday.